The Life And Times Of Naruto no Kitsune
by donalgraeme
Summary: At the age of 4, Naruto's body is broken beyond repair. So the Kyuubi gives him his. This is my first fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello. This is my first fic. Just hope you enjoy my first attempt at striking out into the confusing world of writing fan fictions. I know the theme has been used a thousand times, but I hope you love it anyway.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, though I wish I did.**

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

"**Kyuubi"**

'_**Kyuubi thoughts'**_

Chapter 1

Naruto looked with pure fear at the angry mob that stood before him, craving his blood. Sure, they were drunk, but that didn't mean they still couldn't hurt the poor 4-year old.

Said boy sat cowering down on the ground, wondering how his life had gone from moderately bad to down right hell on earth.

_(Flashback)_

"_And stay out!" yelled the head of the orphanage of Konohagakure. Naruto just looked up at her with a mixed expression of sadness, confusion, and hurt. _

_Today was The Festival of Heroes, in honor of the Yondaime's defeating of the great bijuu, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. It was also the day of Naruto's birthday._

_It was around 6:00, and all Naruto had asked for was a second helping of the admittedly horrible food._

_And that was what led the blond boy to find himself kicked out of his only home. Unbeknownst to him, the old lady had been looking for an excuse to throw out the "demon child" since he took his first steps._

_After about 5 minutes of staring at the door, Naruto picked himself up and walked away._

_He paid no heed to the celebrations, or the by-now normal whisperings of "demon brat…" and other such names._

_He just wandered the streets, thinking of his predicament. 'Maybe I can find someone to take me in.' Naruto thought, but even the thought sounded doubtful. The runner of the orphanage couldn't wait to get rid of Naruto, and it was her job to take care of orphans._

_What villager would take him in? He'd probably be chased away by rocks._

'_Maybe I could stay with Old Man Hokage.' The young boy thought next. From the few times he'd talked with him, Naruto knew the 80-something village leader didn't hate him like the others. He was actually rather kind to the boy._

_Naruto decided to go with it, and started toward the Hokage Tower. And that was when he was confronted by the mob._

"Listen, you twice-damned fox, we're tired of you living and reminding us of our losses. So, for the greater good of the village, we're gonna KILL YOU!" shouted a man at the front of the crowd.

This was granted with cheers from the whole crowd… and a pair of cerulean eyes that could have drawn mercy from Orochimaru.

"What are you talking about? What have I ever done to you? Why do you want me dead?" cried out the boy too scared to cry.

"You insolent demon! You've done everything to us. We want you dead 'cause you've already caused so much death, we might as well return the favor" yelled a particularly drunk woman near the back.

The sun was going down, and the blood-red corona cast the villagers in a frightening light.

Naruto just lay on the ground in terror as the drunk, armed, and bloodthirsty crowd walked toward him.

Never had he felt such fear. It was… it was as if the only thing that stopped his body from freezing into the world's coldest ice sculpture from the mind-numbing terror was the flames of fury radiating off the men and woman assembled.

The ANBU up on the roof watching Naruto just giggled a little. Over his already masked face was a dog mask that did nothing to mess up his gravity-defying silver hair.

"Hey, it's that kid, Minato-sensei's son. Look's like those villagers are about to kill him. Wait, aren't I supposed to protect him?" said the ANBU as he looked down at the crowd, giving a little hiccup.

"Wait, it's because of him Minato-sensei died. I should watch. Go angry mob!" proclaimed the tipsy ANBU on the rooftop. (To those particularly slow, it's Kakashi.)

The villagers were upon Naruto. With a roar of "DIE DEMON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the group attacked the defenseless and petrified form of Naruto Uzumaki.

At first they threw anything they had on hand at the shaking boy, even a pitch fork from a farmer.

Then, empty-handed, they proceeded to beat every inch of skin on the malnourished body of the blond jinchuriki.

They jumped up and down on his hands and feet, kicked his rib cage until even a blind man could see each rib was broken, and punched everything else with a single-minded intensity, even a well placed kick right in Naruto's manhood.

"Hey, what's going on here?" yelled out a commanding voice. Every villager turned to see who interrupted their vengeance over the demon fox.

Even Naruto, who by now was a bloody mass of quivering flesh, made the herculean effort to turn his head.

Standing before them all was a full platoon of assorted Chuunin and Jonin, even a few ANBU. For all of 3 seconds the mob worried they were about to be thrown in prison.

"You forgot to invite us. That's bad manners. What are ya, a bunch of foxes? HA, HA, HA!" shouted the leader of the group.

Every one within 50 yards gave a grin full of malice. "Go ahead." They said in almost perfect unison, while Naruto resumed trembling so much you couldn't even see his outline.

Phase 2 of beating the shit out of Naruto consisted of him being hit by so many kunai and shurikan that he resembled a training log.

Naruto's world was one of endless agony. At least the villagers only hit the exterior. The hundreds of metal implements not only tore skin, but tore muscle and arteries, with the occasional organ.

Naruto was literally soaking in his own blood. But the worst was yet to come.

"Hey, let's see if this fire jutsu of mine is working yet!" screamed a chuunin near the back. Jumping into the air, he quickly made some hand seals and then yelled out "Fire style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!"

He then blew out a stream of white-hot flames that took the form of a dragon at Naruto. It was a whole new level of pain. The parts of his body that weren't being charred to a crisp were being melted through where the kunai and shurikan were implanted. He couldn't even scream.

The bystanders watched on with a ghoulish pleasure. Finally, their "demon" was off their hands.

They had started to congratulate each other before a voice pierced through the air. "WHAT IN SEVEN LAYERS OF HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO NARUTO?" screamed the Sondaime Hokage.

Every head turned to see a _**VERY **_angry Hokage with a squad of ANBU behind him. If the villagers had been sober they would have started being afraid.

But as it was they only greeted him in the worst possible way. "We killed the demon curse of Konoha, that's what's going on here Hokage-sama. Are you going to give us an award?" asked the leader of the group.

He had an actual smile on his face, as if he was proud of what he'd done. Big mistake.

In the blink of an eye, the Sondaime rushed forward and decapitated the man. That got everyone's attention.

"That's your reward! How could you do this to an innocent boy? I half wish Orochimaru was still in the village so I could have him torture each and every one of you. But I guess I'll have to settle for each of you seeing Ibiki and Anko before I have you executed before the whole village!" yelled the aging Hokage at the top of his lungs.

Everyone was shaking in their sandals. They had all heard about the torture experts of Konohagakure.

"But he was just an ugly demon." protested a random villager. His head joined the leader's.

"How could you? He's not a demon; he's a boy who's lived through nothing but pain and misery and is now most likely dead by your hands." yelled the Hokage once more.

Every one decided at that point to just let the ANBU herd them to the torture chambers.

Sarutobi sat down and looked at Naruto while his trusted ANBU pushed the villagers the other way. If he hadn't known that it was indeed a boy, he would have thought it the scariest scarecrow on Earth.

Before him lay a burned, mutated, contorted _thing_ that had about 200 kunai and shurikan sticking out of its skin. _'Naruto, how could they do this to you?' _the old man thought in despair.

100 feet below the ground, the mob was being led to the torture chambers of Konohagakure. One woman had the nerve to complain.

"We did a friggin' community service, why are we being punished?" yelled an elder woman. Others agreed with her.

Before she got her answer, every member of the group was introduced to the sadistic grins of the mental and physical torture experts of The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Behind them was the gaping door of a large cage.

"Welcome," they said in unison, looking at the scarred shitless villagers. "…TO HELL!" they proclaimed. No one heard their screams.

Naruto was confused. One minute he was burning like a Yule log, and then he found himself in this dark place.

If he had to guess, he would have said it was a sewer. The water came up to his knees. After a while he started moving.

He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn someone _or something_ was whispering directions to him. Finally, he came into an enormous room with a gargantuan cage.

I mean really, it was huge! But the first thing Naruto noticed was what was behind the cage. There, behind the cage, was the infamous Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"**About time you got here!"** yelled aforementioned demon. **"Now get over here so we can discuss saving your life." **he continued to say, while all Naruto could do was stare shocked at the fox.

"You're supposed to be dead!" the blond exploded after about a minute. "The Yondaime killed you 4 years ago!" continued the boy while the fox just stared in shock at the young kit before him.

'_**This kit dares to talk to me like this? I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune! I'm the king of all bijuu. He's barely more than a pup, and he talks to me like this?'**_ As Naruto continued, the fox got angrier and angrier. Finally, he too exploded.

"**Listen you little brat! The Yondaime didn't kill me. My power is too great to be thwarted by any man. Everything you were told is a lie. In the end, all the Yondaime could do was seal me away inside the stomach of a newborn child… YOU!" **the Kyuubi screamed, while Naruto just stared at him, beyond shocked

"W-What?" was all Naruto managed to say. His entire body tingled. It was to be suspected considering his whole world had been turned on its axis. Despite himself, Kyuubi felt the _tiniest _bit of pity.

"**That's why the villagers hate you. They think you are me, not my jailor. Human psychology isn't my strong point, but I think they needed something to vent their loss on and you fit the bill… sorry."** the 100-foot giant confessed, wondering why he was apologizing, actually _apologizing_, to this kid whom he'd technically just met.

"Th-thanks." was all Naruto managed. After a brief moment of silence, the Kyuubi spoke. And I mean brief.

"**Anyway, the reason you're here is because you are on Death's Door. You're body is uninhabitable. Even if you lived, you'd never move an inch. Which is why I'm giving you a choice." **said the Kyuubi, his natural cunning coming back. The kit would accept, no doubt.

"What kind of choice?" asked the interested Naruto. Once he got used to the situation, he realized that the Kyuubi was very good company. He might have claws, fangs, and fur, but he acted more humane than any other person he met.

"**The choice is this: A) we fuse together. I would get more freedom, meaning I could just talk to you instead of calling you here. You would also receive my millennia of knowledge. You, on the other hand, would get a lesser version of my body, with all its considerable advantages. It's that or die. And if you die, I die. And I refuse to die at the moment, so this really isn't a choice. I just said that so you wouldn't feel forced."** said the Kyuubi.

To say Naruto was shocked would be the understatement of the millennium. Not only had he been given an extraordinary offer, but the lord of all Bijuu was being nice to him.

"You're body?" he asked in wonder. **"That's right." **the Kyuubi replied, thinking the kit would go for it. He thought of finally feeling something other than this cage and the stinky water. He thought of feeling the wind in his fur, the sun on his-

"ARE YOU NUTS? THE VILLAGERS THINK OF ME AS A DEMON ALREADY. HOW DO YOU THINK THEY'LL REACT WHEN THE SEE ME LOOKING EXACTLY LIKE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Naruto, shocking the Kyuubi out of his fantasies, and just plain shocking him. This outburst was followed by some profanity surprising to hear from a 4-year old boy.

"**It's that or die."** The fox repeated. "Fine, at least I won't get beaten to death anymore." Naruto retorted. The Kyuubi had to use all his self-control to hold himself back.

This was his one chance at freedom, and he was going to get it. He then thought very quickly of ways to get the kit to agree. If this were a cartoon, not anime, you would have seen a light bulb above Kyuubi's head.

"**If you die now, they'll only ever think of you as "that demon brat". If you live on, you can show them wrong." s**aid Kyuubi with a convincing tone of voice.

That shut Naruto up. Naruto seriously thought it over. He weighed the good with one hand and the bad with the other. The good was he'd get that awesome power the villagers feared, which had him very excited at the very idea. He'd also just about triple his IQ from having the fox's mind.

The bad was he'd be the spitting image of said demon lord. That would make social interaction difficult to say the least. The good won, but just barely.

"Fine, how do we fuse?" asked Naruto, excited despite his calm appearance, as thoughts of using the Kyuubi's body popped in his head. The Kyuubi grinned. His plan had worked. **"Right. First, come through the bars." **Naruto obliged, walking through the giant rods of iron.

"**Now, the stomach is the center of all chakra, so to fuse you have to go there." **the Kyuubi said bluntly. Naruto just starred at the fox like he was insane as the village thought he was.

"What, you want to eat me?" Naruto asked incredulously. **"Yep. Try not to squirm." **With that, Kyuubi scooped Naruto into his mouth and swallowed before the blond could protest.

It was extremely weird to travel down the Kyuubi's throat. It was slimy and ticklish at the same time. Naruto would have yelled, but the smell was unbelievable. Like a slaughterhouse that hadn't been cleaned in centuries.

When Naruto hit the stomach, after a slight burning feeling, he felt as if he were dissolving into Kyuubi. At the same time it felt like Kyuubi was dissolving into him. It was interesting to say the least. He felt an enormous rush of power…

Sarutobi had just turned to leave the dead form of Naruto when he felt an unknown chakra flare behind him, both malevolent and benevolent. He spun around to come upon an extraordinary sight.

Masses of both red and blue chakra was covering Naruto's corpse like a cocoon. Even as he watched the chakras melted together into a rich purple.

It was beautiful, in a strange sort of way. _'What's going on?' _was all that went through the Sondaime's mind.

When the chakra cleared, he could only stare. It was as if a 4-year-old-sized Kyuubi no Kitsune had just decided to take a nap and plopped himself on the ground.

However, there were some slight changes to the form from what Sarutobi remembered.

The knee cap was on the front of the legs, like a human's.

The muzzle only extended an inch from its face, as if it was imitating a nose.

But the most noticeable change was the mass of spiky blond hair on top of its head. "Naruto?" the Sondaime whispered, barely believing his eyes. A wheezy snore was his only answer.

After gazing at the body a little while, the Sondaime called out "Kakashi!" The said ANBU, who had watched the proceedings as if they were a good movie, snapped to attention.

Jumping down from the roof, he said "Hokage-sama." with a little hesitation. "Help me get Naruto to the Hospital. We'll discuss your inability to protect him later." the Hokage said while giving Kakashi a glare that could have sent all of hell into the Ice Age.

With a pang of guilt, he meekly answered "Yes, Hokage-sama." And so saying, he grabbed one end of the blond Kitsune while the Sondaime Hokage of Konohagakure grabbed the other. They then rushed to the hospital.

**End of chapter 1. So, what do you think? Feel free to criticize in your reviews, which I hope you'll give. I'll update soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there! Here's the new chapter! And thanks for the reviews. To answer some of your questions: Naruto looks exactly like the fox, just **_**slightly**_** humanoid. As to the pairings, I'm leaning toward a NaruHarem. If you want to know how you'll have to keep reading. Anyway, enjoy!**

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

"**Kyuubi"**

'_**Kyuubi thoughts'**_

Chapter 2

It was an average night at the Konohagakure hospital. That was, until the Sandaime Hokage and an ANBU rushed in carrying what seemed to be a miniature Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"Everyone, I need this boy examined right now! And if any one of you hesitates because of what he looks like, you'll join the group visiting Ibiki and Anko at the moment!" yelled out the Sandaime, as he carried Naruto to the front desk.

The assorted doctors and nurses looked like they would love to hesitate, but they took the boy anyway. Partly out of their urge to help, but mostly because they didn't want to join the group the Hokage mentioned.

Naruto was rushed on a stretcher to an empty room where he shortly got the full medical scan from the more willing doctors. Sarutobi watched the "foxified" form of Naruto the whole time.

Finally, after 30 minutes of sweating, cursing, and working, the head doctor approached the Hokage with a clipboard in hand.

"Hokage-sama, I can honestly say that this boy you brought could be the Kyuubi's son. They have the same muscle structure, the same bone structure, except for his knees, and the same healing rate. The only difference seems to be the chakra. But otherwise he's perfectly healthy." the doctor told the old man while reading down the clipboard.

The Sandaime breathed a sigh of relief. But then his brow furrowed. "What do you mean his chakra is different?" he asked. The doctor replied "As you know, chakra is different colors depending on its nature. The Kyuubi's was red, normal is blue, healing is green. But this being's is purple. I've never even heard of it; care to tell me where you found him?"

The Sandaime took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. After a while, he answered.

"That is Naruto Uzumaki. Today a group of villagers attacked him because the Kyuubi is sealed inside him and they foolishly think he is the demon. I stopped them, but by then he was undoubtedly dead. I had turned to leave when the purple chakra you mentioned enveloped him completely. When it cleared, he was as you see him now." The doctor was understandably shocked.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but when we examined him, there wasn't any seal," the doctor said with some trepidation. The village leader instantly exploded.

"WHAT? NO SEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The doctor rubbed his ears before answering.

"Exactly that Hokage-sama. There is no seal. Maybe this was a defense mechanism of the Kyuubi's. It's only a theory, but maybe the boy and the Kyuubi fused together." said the doctor (Congratulations, you're exactly right).

The Hokage thought for a moment. "Kakashi!" he barked. The ANBU, who had hung around purely out of loyalty, asked "Yes, Hokage-sama" "Go assemble the council for an emergency meeting. After that, I'm demoting you to Jonin." the Sandaime ordered.

Kakashi, never missing a beat, obeyed. He had been hoping to retire from ANBU anyway. When he was gone, the Hokage told the doctor "Alert me the moment he wakes up. If anyone but you and those you trust come near him before then, detain them." The doctor answered "Yes, Hokage-sama." and scurried off.

The council sat, wondering why they had been summoned. Their Hokage soon appeared, with a troubled expression on his face. Everyone politely greeted "Hokage-sama.", though they were wondering why they had been called during the middle of dinner.

The Sandaime took his seat and said "I'll get straight to the point. About one hour ago, Naruto Uzumaki was beaten and killed by some angry villagers. However, the Kyuubi has appeared to have brought him back, though Naruto now has his body. The doctors do not know the extent of what happened, but they are of the opinion that they both fused together due to there being no seal on the body. This meetings purpose is to discuss what to do with him."

The council was shocked. That one paragraph had sent them reeling through the entire rainbow of human emotions. They had felt hate, triumph, happiness, disappointment, sadness, and wonder all in the course of 2 minutes. Finally, Danzo, leader of ANBU's Root division, spoke up.

"I believe it is clear that we turn him into a weapon. He is young enough to be molded as we wish. We could become the most powerful Shinobi nation in the world, with all cowering before us at the threat of releasing him." he proclaimed to the rest of the council.

Before anyone could agree, the Sandaime said "No." Danzo was furious. "He is a demon, a stain on the whole village! This is the only way to insure that we are spared while also becoming more powerful!" he yelled at the foolish, at least to him, Hokage. Said Hokage felt the same about Danzo. He even told him so.

"If you stopped being a fool for 2 seconds, you'd see how wrong you are. How would you fell if you were forced to serve a village that had only caused you suffering? We must consult his own feelings." the Sandaime retorted in a voice containing barely restrained rage.

"He's a demon, he doesn't know any feelings except rage and bloodlust!" screamed the now standing one armed council member. "No, he's just a boy that now resembles the demon fools like you think he is!" yelled Sarutobi, he himself standing.

"Enough!" yelled out the female to the left of the Hokage. She was his former teammate and too cared for the boy, if only a little (can't remember her name). The two men slowly lowered themselves back down.

"Now, I'm sure a compromise can be reached. How about Naruto getting trained by Sarutobi and some others until he joins the academy in the final year? He would become the weapon Danzo wants while getting to know children his own age, as well as people who truly care for him." she wisely proposed.

After a moment of silence, both men finally said "Agreed." Having been satisfied, she said "Now, about his new form. Do you know just how much they are alike, the boy and Kyuubi?"

The Sondaime sighed. "He is the mirror image, except for his size and some insignificant details. We'll have to find him clothing that completely covers him. Otherwise everyone's hate would multiply 10-fold at seeing him now. Now, are there anymore questions?" he said, in a tone that practically said "I dare you to ask one."

After no one answered, he said wearily "Meeting adjourned." When they had all left, he summoned Gai, Kakashi, Kurenai, and his son Asuma. He quickly told them everything and then ended with "When he wakes up and after he gets used to his body, all of you along with me are going to train him."

They all had one thought in their heads: _'Is he kidding?' _But they all said "Yes, Hokage-sama." When they too left, Sarutobi had a private bottle of sake. _'It's going to be a long night.' _He thought to himself.

Naruto didn't know what was going on, but he liked it. He felt warm and comfortable. He didn't bother getting up. However, he did feel a little strange. His nails felt very long, his ears felt floppy, and when he felt his nose, he felt… whiskers?

He shot up like a rocket. The events of the previous day came flooding back to him. He looked around the white room he was in, wondering where he was. _'Kyuubi! Can you hear me?' _he mentally shouted.

'_**No need to shout! Remember, we share a mind. Anyways, how do you like my body?' **_the now awake Kitsune asked. Naruto looked down at himself and found he was in a bed, blindingly white against his red-orange fur. _'A lot actually. This fur is really soft, and I like these claws. Wait, what's that?' _he asked, not about anything in the room but about something he found in the Kyuubi's mind.

'_**Oh, nothing, nothing.' **_the Kyuubi hastily said, hoping Naruto wouldn't find out the factoid he'd been hiding. It was a little hard, with him still getting used to the dual-mind thing, but after concentrating, Naruto found what the Kyuubi had tried to hide from him.

The Kazekage was getting ready for the day when he heard, in the distance, "THE YONDAIME HOKAGE IS MY FATHER!?!" He looked out the window, thinking _'Where the hell did that come from?' _Back in Konoha, Naruto was now in a room with broken glass all over the floor.

"**Damn, you didn't have to yell so loud. Yes, he's your father." **The Kyuubi said in an annoyed tone, borrowing Naruto's voice box to get the attention of the now furious blond.

"Wait, did you just speak?" the now confused blond. _**'Of course kit; if we share a brain that means we share **__**our**__** body. Now let me explain your parentage.' **_the lord of all bijuu replied.

'_**Your father was Minato Namikaze a.k.a. the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure. Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki of the Village Hidden in the Whirlpool. You're mother died when I attacked the village. The reason that damned blond used you to contain me was because he couldn't bring himself to curse any other child, as well as the fact that he couldn't seal me inside himself. He hoped you would be seen as a hero. If those fool villagers had any sense, they'd see that if you were the demon they think you are, none of them would live after insulting you. Now that your family tree has been revealed, pay attention. The Hokage is here.' **_the Kyuubi lectured to the enraptured blond.

Naruto snapped back into reality to see that the Old Man Hokage really was in front of him. He seemed like he had a lot on his mind.

"Ah, Naruto. I see you're awake. How are you?" said Sarutobi, though it was obvious he was nervous. Naruto felt a little hurt that the kind Hokage was afraid of him. Or so he thought. "There are some things I must tell you; I don't know where to begin." Naruto gave a literally foxy grin. So that was the reason.

"Let's see; you could start with the fact that the Yondaime is my father, though I guess all of Konoha heard that. Or you could start with the fact that the Kyuubi wasn't killed, but sealed inside me. Or you could start with the fact that the Kyuubi and I have merged, body and soul. Take your pick." Naruto listed off to the shocked Hokage.

"So you know." was all the Sandaime said. There was silence during which Naruto examined his claws, looked out where the window used to be, and just plain sat there, waiting for the Old Man to speak. Finally he did.

"Naruto, I can't tell you how sorry I am. I am willing to do whatever I can to make up for the burden you are forced to bear. If you would accept, I'd like to adopt you, as well as train you along with some others to protect yourself." The Sandaime asked Naruto, hoping for a sign.

Unknown to him, Naruto and the Kyuubi were having a conversation in his head. _**'Say yes; this exactly the opportunity you need. If you protect those villagers, they would have to owe thanks. No one can be mean to a person who saves their village. I speak from experience.' **__'One: why are you being so nice to people you tried to kill? Two: what do you mean you speak from experience?' _The Kyuubi sighed, both physically and mentally.

'_**To answer your second question, it happens to be how I got most of my respect down in Hell. As for the first, if you're ever going to be accepted by this village, outright bloodlust isn't the answer. So I might as well try kindness. Seriously though, say yes.' **_Naruto took a moment to process the information with his new mind, and then spoke aloud.

"I accept, under the terms that none of the villagers that attacked me get punished. If I'm going to protect this village, I can't very well do it with everyone hating me more for being the cause of the death of about a quarter of the village. I'd be worse than the demon they think I am." the blond boy said with a maturity of someone 10 times his age.

Sarutobi was taken aback, but said "Yes, of course Naruto-kun." Naruto was taken aback by the suffix, but preceded to the other thing at hand.

"Now, about my training, I need some seals placed on me to suppress my chakra." This through the Sandaime for a loop. "Why?" was all he managed.

Naruto gave an amused smile. This time he let the Kyuubi reply. **"Because, old man, I was the size of a mountain and I was slightly insane from the size of my power. How do you think a kit who's a thousandth my size will handle it?" **Naruto was privately laughing over the floor in his mind at the expression on his soon-to-be-father's face.

After finally recovering from being addressed by the demon lord directly, he said "Point taken, and warn me next time you do that. This ticker can't handle those kinds of surprises."

Naruto smiled and said "Good, now can you please leave. I want to rest and get used to this new body. Kyuubi wants me to work on amplifying my senses." With a final "Sure", the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure left, looking like he had won every lottery in the world at once and was trying to grasp the information.

Down in the cage, every villager just sat there, waiting for their deaths. Both there minds and bodies had been strained to the limit. So when the saw the Hokage approaching, they barely reacted.

"Is it time for us to die yet?" the woman from earlier said, with a sick amusement written across her face. But she along with everyone else was surprised by the man's statement. "You're free to go."

There was a moment of silence before someone said "You realized what we did was a good thing, didn't you. You know, killing the demon?"

Sarutobi glared at him before opening the doors. "No, I'm letting you go because not only is Naruto fine, but he insisted that you not be punished for your actions."

This caused some confusion. "Why?" a young man asked. Sarutobi looked at him. "His exact words were 'If I'm going to protect this village, I can't very well do it with everyone hating me more for being the cause of the death of about a quarter of the village. I'd be worse than the demon they think I am.' That is why." was all Sarutobi said.

As the villagers made their way to the surface, all the villagers had one thought on their minds _'Maybe we should give him a chance.'_

Naruto's training was… interesting, to say the least. Naruto discovered that the Kyuubi had been sending only the bare minimum of chakra to his five senses so Naruto would feel normal. After the Old Man Hokage left, Kyuubi stopped restricting the flow of chakra. Naruto almost had a seizure.

He could smell the peroxide, trees, and any other thing within a mile-radius. He could see the individual pine needles and flecks of paint on the wall. He could hear even further than his smell range, letting him in on the conversations and sounds of nature in the entire southern half of the village. He could taste what he smelled in the air, and he even felt the disturbances in the air.

Kyuubi quickly reined in the chakra. He then slowly let the normal amount back to his senses. It was only a drop a minute, which gave Naruto time to adapt. He found that to prevent insanity, he could hoist some of the strain from his 4-year old mind to the 40,000- year old mind of the Kyuubi.

This blessing turned out to be a curse as it led Naruto to ask Kyuubi the most deadly question anyone can ask: _'Kyuubi, what's this mating season thing I found in your mind?'_

Kyuubi didn't hide the information, knowing Naruto would just grab it out of his mind like last time. And so Kyuubi went through the grueling, teeth-gnashing, mind-numbing ordeal that was _the talk._

Naruto soaked the information up like a sponge, and it took Kyuubi's constant intervention to stop Naruto from examining his… area.

After maybe 3 hours, a nurse came in with a tray of food. She was visibly shaking, and left before Naruto could even say thank you.

"Middling-size chicken, male, 2 years old. Killed 8 months ago and microwave cooked for 3 minutes." Naruto's enhanced senses of smell, taste, and touch were really giving him a new outlook on food. Kyuubi had taken control of their body and had literally torn into the meat.

'_Hey Kyuubi, what's wrong? You're acting like this is your first meal in years.' __**'That's because it is. You have no idea what it's like to see you sate your hunger and thirst when I can't. That's half the reason I made the deal: so I could finally get out of that cage.' **_the Kyuubi thought in-between bites and sips.

After that, Naruto sat down to sleep. Just when he was nodding off, a fly started annoying him. He was about to swipe it when one of his nine tails shot out and did it for him.

'_Hey, Kyuubi. How did I do that?'_ Kyuubi, who was as tired as Naruto, simply said, or thought, _**'Our tails react to our thoughts and emotions.' **_After he said this he went to sleep, dragging Naruto with him.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

The next day, Naruto was discharged and led to his new home. Earlier that morning, Sarutobi had found a large cloak much too large for Naruto that hid his new form completely.

Naruto gazed at his surroundings with a new light. He never knew how complex leaves were, or how much a flower really smelled like. He had no trouble ignoring the stares of passerby. It was an odd sight: the Hokage of the village being trailed by a tiny figure in an enormous black cloak that was constantly moving his head.

When they got to the Hokage Tower, Naruto was greeted by 4 Jonin in the Old Man's office. The one on the far left, who was wearing green spandex under his Jonin vest, who also had the biggest eyebrows Naruto had ever seen, came forward and said "Hello, I'm Maito Gai. I'll be training you in taijutsu."

The man to Gai's left, who had gravity-defying silver hair and a mask and headband that hid all of his face except his right eye, came forward next. "I'm Kakashi Hatake, and I'll be training you in ninjutsu."

The woman next in line, who had red eyes and a strange kimono, walked up and said "Hi, I'm Kurenai Yuuhi, and I'll be training you in genjutsu."

The last man in line, who had a beard, a cigarette in his mouth, and 2 trench knives at his hip, came forward and said "I'm Asuma Sarutobi, and I'll be training you in weapons and elemental affinities that aid them."

Finally, Sarutobi came in front of Naruto and said "Hello, I'm Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, and I'll be teaching you academics." He said this with a big grin on his face.

Naruto just stared at all of them before bowing and saying "Hello Gai-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, Asuma-sensei, and Sarutobi-sensei. I'm Naruto Uzumaki no Kitsune. I'm honored to meet you."

They were all taken aback by the boy's politeness, but bowed in turn, and left. Sarutobi then showed Naruto his new room before taking him to an empty chamber where he put the seal Naruto requested on Naruto. The seal kept 9/10 of Naruto's chakra in check, though it could be loosened to let more power through. He then treated Naruto to dinner.

For the next 8 years, Naruto had a steady routine. Every day he would wake up at 6:00 and eat a nutrition bar before heading to the training grounds. He would meet Gai, who would make Naruto do 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 pull-ups, and 50 laps around Konoha while wearing weights. He then started training.

For 3 hours after, Naruto would learn the various styles of taijutsu, starting with the Iron Fist that was Gai's favorite. Then for the next 3 hours, he would learn the hundreds of ninjutsu that Kakashi had copied with his Sharingan. Naruto's new chakra was so unstable that the first month was purely chakra control exercises.

Afterwards, he would eat the banko Kurenai brought him, and then learn the various properties and dispelling of genjutsu for 3 more hours. At that point he trained with Asuma with every weapon from shurikan to broadswords to staffs. He also taught him how to channel elemental chakra into his weapons to make them more powerful. It was here that Naruto learned he had an affinity for wind.

Finally, his adoptive father would treat him to dinner and then teach Naruto history and philosophy until when Naruto went to sleep at 10:00

By the age of 6, Naruto was wearing 150 pounds in weights, knew about 250 ninjutsu, could use and dispel genjutsu that was around Chuunin level, use 50 of the world's weapons with adequate accuracy, and recite the founding of each ninja village from memory.

By the age of 8, Naruto could hold his own against Gai and had asked the man to help him making his own style, knew 500 ninjutsu as well as some demonic ones Kyuubi had, get out of some of Kurenai's most powerful genjutsu while being able to get her sometimes, use 75 of a ninja's weapons with very good accuracy, and could get into very advanced arguments with Sarutobi on nearly every subject.

By the age of 10, Naruto was wearing as many weights as Gai and occasionally beat him with his original Kitsune Fist style, knew as many jutsus as Kakashi, could ensnare Kurenai without her noticing, use any weapon you cared to name with pinpoint accuracy, and solve philosophical enigmas that Sarutobi couldn't make head or tail of.

By the time Naruto was about to enter the academy, he could beat all five of them at once in a spar, though he had to remove his weights and loosen the seal to do so. All of his teachers were proud beyond measure. They were eager to see how he would excel at the academy…

**Finally it's done. You know the drill. Read, review, revisit. Good-bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone! I swear, some of you live on the computer. The second chap wasn't up one hour and I already had reviews. I know I have left a ton of unanswered questions, which I will answer in this chapter. As for the harem, it's Sakura, Hinata, TenTen, Temari, and I'm still wondering if I should add Tayuya. I guess you'll have to read and find out. Oh, and sorry this took so long. New Year's. What can I say?**

"Speech"

"_Animal Speech"_

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Kyuubi Thoughts'**_

* * *

Naruto woke up at 6:00, as he had for the last 8 years. He got out of his bed in the Hokage Tower, stretched a little, and then looked in the mirror. While he was doing this, he contemplated how much he had changed from a helpless 4-year old to what he was today.

'_**Well, you have red-orange fur all over your body, claws instead of finger or toe nails, a muzzle, fox ears, purple eyes with slits, all the power and then some of the most feared demon in history, enough ninjutsu and genjutsu to make most Kage envious, a flawless taijutsu style, a total mastery of all weapons manufactured for ninja, and most important, said demon as one of your close personal friends. The only way you and that pup are alike now is the fact you walk on two legs and that blond mess of yours.' **_answered the most feared demon in history.

Naruto grinned. _'Hey Kyuubi, are you excited about our first day at the academy?' __**'Not really. You'll be so far ahead of the kits there that you might as well compare a shark's mouth to a newborn's.' **__'Imagery aside, I know what you mean. Still, I'll get to know people my own age. No offense, but having no one to talk to other than a bunch of old people for 8 years isn't quite to my tastes.' _With that, Naruto put his cloak that hid every inch of skin on and went downstairs.

There he found his adoptive father and brother having a fight. Or more his brother fighting and his father ignoring him. "I'm gonna be Hokage anyway, so you might as well just give me that hat now!" Konohamaru yelled at the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure a.k.a. Grandpa or Old Man.

Naruto groaned. "Konohamaru-kun, it's too early. Couldn't you wait until I actually eat something?" he said while silently thanking the boy for starting his day with a bam. "Naruto-neechan, help me wrestle that hat away from him!" he yelled, and so saying lunged at the old man.

Sarutobi dodged without even looking up. As his grandson sat nursing his head, he looked up and said "Ah, Naruto-kun. Off to the academy I see. Try not to show off." Naruto gave his trademark grin. If you could see his face, you'd see that he was showing all of his teeth/fangs. But you couldn't, so you just got the feeling he was smiling. "Can do." And with that he was off.

* * *

It was the first day of the graduating year at the Ninja Academy. Iruka looked at his students, hoping they would all become great ninja. Though he was a bit doubtful about Sasuke's fan girls. They were so obsessed that they easily became distracted. About the only one that got decent grades was Sakura.

At that moment he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. When all of their eyes were on him, or at least as close as they could be to being on him while still being on Sasuke, he addressed the class.

"Welcome back to the Academy. I hope you studied over the summer. Today we have a new student joining us." It was at that moment that Naruto appeared in the doorway. Iruka noticed him. "Ah, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Please introduce yourself to the class."

Naruto bristled at the devil comment. Though he had met Iruka a few times and it was probably a joke, he still got annoyed. He walked up to the center of the floor and looked at his classmates.

There seemed to be a boy that had all the female's undivided attention. But judging by the look on his face, he didn't want it. Naruto guessed this was Sasuke Uchiha, the guy everyone in the village treated like a prince. Kyuubi looked him over, thinking of how his bloodline limit came to be.

While Kyuubi was reminiscing, Iruka asked "How about you tell us about yourself? Your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, that sort of thing." Naruto nodded and then talked to the class. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, but everyone I know calls me Naruto no Kitsune, for my taijutsu style and attitude." _'And appearance.' _Naruto would have continued, but a boy with a dog on his head spoke out.

"What kind of a name is Naruto? Isn't that some thing you put on ramen?" The boy broke out in laughter. Naruto took the connection to his favorite food as a compliment, but he decided to have a little fun with the boy.

"You have 5 seconds to apologize, or I'll neuter you, burn removed object, and slip it into your lunch." The room was the epitome of silence, while the male half of the population instantly covered their Pride.

The boy was as pale as a ghost. He managed to stutter out "Y-You're B-bl-bluffing." Everyone in the room got the feeling of an evil grin coming from this cloaked boy. "Are you sure? Are you willing to risk the chance of ever having children?" The question hung in the air like a threat.

The dog-lover, if possible, went even paler. He finally said "Sorry, Naruto-dono." It was like a switch was flipped. Suddenly Naruto was all sunshine. "Wonderful! Back to where I left off, I like training, shogi, and very meaty ramen. I dislike prejudice and my proverbial uncle's obsession with 'the power of youth'. I also dislike people who ask dumb questions. My hobbies are training, napping, and eating."

A pink-haired girl got up the courage and raised her hand. Naruto looked at her. She had a large forehead, bright green eyes, and pale skin. Naruto guessed that she was a Haruno. "Excuse me if this is one of those 'dumb questions', but why are you wearing that cloak?" The rest of the class nodded, wondering what kind of a threat she was going to get.

Naruto allowed a moment's silence to build the suspense. "The reason I wear this cloak…" he said in a calm tone. Everyone was leaning forward, even Sasuke, wondering what this new kid's face was. "Is none of your business." Everyone face faulted.

Iruka cleared his throat. "Naruto, why don't you just sit by Kiba and Akamaru over there?" Naruto saw that his new sensei wanted him to sit by the boy he had just threatened. If Kiba got any paler, he would suffer from blood loss.

Naruto nodded, walked slowly up the stairs, hearing the frightful murmurs behind him. _**'Congratulations, you just alienated the younger generation of the village' **_the Kyuubi thought with his voice dripping with sarcasm.

'_Hey, you're the one who always said that fear was power. Besides, I have a whole year to repair the damage.' _Naruto took his seat and faced Iruka. "Now class, today we shall be reviewing the Substitution Jutsu."

Naruto had to hold back a scoff. He had mastered this jutsu 8 years ago. Deciding to ignore the lesson, Naruto tried to talk to this Kiba guy. But he seemed to be more scared than attentive. Naruto tried a new tactic and talked to the dog on the boy's head.

"_Hey, your name is Akamaru right?" _Akamaru and Kiba were, in a word, shocked. "You can talk to him?" _"You can talk to me?" _Again, Kiba got the feeling of a smirk instead of actually seeing it.

"Yes, and don't ask why. You'll get the same answer as that girl." Naruto looked at said pink-haired beauty. He didn't know why, but he got a strange feeling when he looked at her. In his half of their mind, Kyuubi smiled. _**'Looks like the kit just found his first mate.'**_

"Well, I won't ask then." said Kiba, returning to the role of scared boy. "Sorry about that threat by the way. I just wanted to start the year of with a bang, you know." The feeling of a kind grin invaded the air. Kiba's face started to return to its natural orange.

"Yeah, I think I get what you mean. My name's Kiba Inuzuka. And this is Akamaru." The confused puppy gave a little _"Hi." _Naruto almost laughed at how he didn't identify the boy's family immediately. The Inuzuka's were notorious for their canine counterpart's.

The newfound friends would have continued their conversation had not an eraser been thrown in their direction. Instead of catching it, which would attract attention, Naruto merely dodged the projectile. Kiba did not, however, have such reflexes. The fur on his hood gained a new color.

"Stop talking and pay attention!" yelled a disgruntled Iruka. Both boys and the dog gave a "Sorry."/ _"Sorry." _Iruka returned to the chalk board. Naruto spent the rest of the time before lunch making sure his cloak completely concealed him, ignoring the class, and staring at the pink-haired girl.

When the lunch bell rang, Naruto walked to a tree outside, sat down, and ate the banko his 'sister' Kurenai had packed for him. Naruto, as always, took stalk of his surroundings. Sasuke was trying to avoid most of the female population, Kiba was coming to talk to him, and the pink-haired girl was talking to a platinum-blond girl.

"Hey, can I sit here?" "Of course, Kiba-kun." Kiba sat down next to Naruto in the shade of the tree and gave Akamaru his lunch. Naruto used a trick he picked up from Kakashi. He ate so fast that no one saw his form at all. Kiba could only stare at the box that had been full a second ago and now was empty.

"Man, even I can't eat that fast. Mind if I sit here?" Naruto looked up to see a chubby boy with brown hair and red swirls on his cheeks. Next to him was a boy with a pony tail that resembled a pineapple. "Sure." was all Naruto said.

Both of them sat down. The boy with the pony tail just sat down and started looking at the clouds. "My name is Chouji Akimichi. This is Shikamaru Nara." The boy with red swirls on his cheeks followed up this introduction with the munching of five bags of potato chips. "How troublesome." was all the pineapple-haired boy said.

Naruto gave a nodded and turned his attention to the pink-haired girl's conversation. A normal person wouldn't be able to hear it over the hustle and bustle of the courtyard, but to Naruto, it was as if she was standing right next to him.

"So Sakura, are you going to introduce yourself to this Naruto no Kitsune guy?" the blond girl asked. "Are you crazy Ino-pig? That guy has weird written all over him. Why don't you introduce yourself?" the pinkette retorted.

"Well, Billboard-brow, why don't we both introduce ourselves together? I'd rather be acquainted to this guy than be on the receiving end of one of his threats."

The girl known as Sakura looked scared for a minute, and then nodded. The two started making their way to the new student and his friends. When they came up, they both put on a smile. "Hi, we're-"Sakura started to say.

"Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Pleasant to meet you." Naruto said for the girls. Both of their jaws dropped to the ground. "How do you know our names?" the rivals said in almost perfect unison.

Everyone in the vicinity got the feeling of a smile from the cloaked boy. "Only a Haruno could have those eyes and that for head. And the Yamanaka's blond hair and jade eyes are no great secret." Even Akamaru stared. This guy had the deductive reasoning of a ninja, and this was supposed to be the place where you learned to become a ninja. How could he be this good on the first day?

Naruto, taking note of their looks, gave a little clarity to the situation. "My adoptive father trained me a little ahead of time for the academy." _**'Yeah, since the age of four along with Konoha's best of the best.' **_Kyuubi added in their mind.

It was at that moment that everyone was called back inside. Naruto fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon and had to be forcibly pushed to wake up. "Hey, Naruto-kun, could you please move? It's time to go." Kiba said to a disgruntled Naruto. He nodded and then made his way home. He of course did this in the blink of an eye. Kiba was left starring at an empty space thinking _'What the hell?'_

* * *

That night, Naruto had dinner with Sarutobi and Konohamaru as always. And, as always, Konohamaru made an attempt to get Naruto's cloak off. These were almost as frequent as his attacks on his grandpa.

After sending him into his room with a broken wrist, Sarutobi groaned. "Must you be so violent? He's only eight and he's sustained enough injuries to make a ninja envious."

Naruto gave his trademark grin. "It's his own fault. I just protected him from the nervous breakdown that would result if he found out his big brother is literally a cheeky fox."

Sarutobi had a laugh at this. "I still wish you were a bit gentler. But anyways, what was with you at the academy? Iruka told me you made the ultimate threat to the Inuzuka boy and then ignored him for the entire day."

Naruto actually laughed at the seriousness in Sarutobi's voice. "The only reason I am currently not leading my own ANBU division is because you want me to make some friends not in their 30's. Re-learning things I learned 8 years ago was never part of the deal." Sarutobi laughed in turn, and then sent Naruto to bed.

* * *

The rest of the year passed in a similar fashion. Naruto completely and utterly ignored Iruka, and fully devoted his time to his new friends: Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Hinata Hyuuga, who had introduced herself to Naruto and had watched him from a distance ever since. Naruto tried to close that distance as often as possible, not wanting the girl to be permanently shy.

That same week, about a quarter of Sasuke's fan girls converted themselves into fan girls for Naruto, after conquering their fear of course. It wasn't for his looks, because no one had seen even a hair of his body. His cloak made sure of that. It was more the drive to see what he looked like, to crack the puzzle of Naruto no Kitsune. After all, everyone loves a challenge.

Sakura was somewhere in between. She was still obsessed with Sasuke, though not as severely anymore. She too felt the need to figure out what lay beneath the folds of black cloth that covered Naruto's body. Though not in any perverted sense, mind you.

Sasuke was also something of an acquaintance. He noticed that when he was near Naruto, the only fan girls in sight were his. He would never bend his Uchiha pride far enough to say so, but he respected Naruto.

It was the last day of school, and everybody but Naruto was nervous. He silently gave a cheer as each of his friends was called to take the graduation exam. When he himself was called, he strode into the testing room without a single nuance of doubt that he was going to pass.

"Okay Naruto, the test is on the Clone Jutsu. Please make as many clones as possible." Iruka told the slightly bored Naruto. "Which type of clone?" he asked. Iruka looked confused, but then said "Whichever you choose." Iruka and Mizuki, who hated the kid with every ounce of his being, watched as Naruto's sleeves went wild as he made hand seals too fast for them to see.

"Multi Omni Clone Jutsu!" The entire school gave a scream as normal clones, shadow clones, fire clones, water clones, earth clones, wind clones, and lightning clones filled every room. As soon as they appeared, they disappeared in a mass of flickering, puffs of smoke, bursts of fire, falling of water, turning into mud, gusts of air, and flashes of lightning.

Everyone in the school was then treated to the rarely heard laughter of one Naruto no Kitsune. "You should see the looks on your faces!" Naruto laughed while looking at a flabbergasted Iruka and Mizuki. "You said 'make as many clones as possible.'" Iruka finally mastered himself.

"Congratulations Naruto, you pass with flying colors." When Naruto and the 2 sensei's reentered the classroom, the boy had a Konoha headband around his neck. All of his friends gave him cheers.

"Settle down. Now, I will award the Rookie of the Year reward, and then you can all go home." The entire class, still recovering from the army of Naruto clones, took their seats. "Now, though as you have just seen that Naruto is a master at the Clone Jutsu, the Rookie of the Year goes to Sasuke, for the fact that Naruto just barely passed his tests." The girls in the room, except for Hinata and Naruto's fan girls, all gave a big cheer.

Outside, everyone showed off their new headband to their parents, while Naruto waited for Old Man Hokage, as he still playfully called him, to arrive. Naruto noticed that Sasuke was headed towards him.

"Hi Sasuke-kun, what do you want?" Sasuke got straight to the point. "I've gotten the feeling that you've been holding back all year. I don't want to be Rookie of the Year just because my test scores are higher than yours. So, right here, right now, we fight. The winner is the _real_ Rookie of the Year."

Naruto said flat out "No." Sasuke smirked. "Afraid you're going to lose?" Sasuke felt the presence of Naruto's foxy grin. "Quite the contrary, I'm afraid that I might get too carried away and hurt you." Sasuke's Uchiha arrogance kicked in.

"There is no way in all the ninja lands that I will lose to you. So come on and fight me!" Naruto sighed, but followed Sasuke to an empty patch of ground. All of the adults looked with adoration at Sasuke and contempt at Naruto. They had all come to the conclusion that Naruto had saved those people just so he could finish them off himself.

Sasuke took his stance, while Naruto just stood there. "No holding back, you hear me?" Sasuke yelled at the motionless form. "Oh, if that's the case," Naruto said. Before Sasuke could question what he meant, Naruto jumped into the air spinning like a top. Several black things rained down from him, and each made a crater when they hit the ground. Everyone's eyes started to resemble dinner plates.

"What the hell was that?" Sasuke yelled when Naruto came back to the ground. "You said no holding back, so I removed my weights." Sasuke stared in one of the craters and saw that it was indeed a training weight.

"How many of those do you have?" Sasuke asked in a mild state of overawe. "About 10, and each is 150 pounds." (I know that this is a bit over the limit of the imagination, but you know how weird Gai is, and I had to pick a number that was particularly crazy.)

"Now, I believe we have a fight to do." Naruto was a little excited. He'd get to finally give Sasuke a healthy dose of reality. Though it might not be so healthy to him.

Before Sasuke could get back into his stance, not that it would do much good, Naruto yelled "Kitsune Cyclone Barrage!" and rushed forward at speeds the Sharingan wouldn't be able to keep up with. He reappeared instantly in front of Sasuke with his right hand swinging as if to swipe him. A cut appeared on Sasuke's chest. Naruto spun around and delivered a swipe with his foot. The entire time he was releasing chakra from each of his tenketsu.

And so it went; Naruto kept delivering slashes with his hidden claws while releasing chakra in his spins until it looked like Sasuke was being attacked by a purple cyclone. Finally, Naruto gave a kick that sent Sasuke flying back.

He ended his spin so that he was facing away from Sasuke. But the cyclone went after the raven-haired boy. All the children and adults alike could do was watch as their beloved Uchiha was consumed by a chakra whirlwind. When the cyclone finally cleared, Sasuke fell on the ground with some nice chakra burns to add to the dozen or so cuts on his body.

Everyone was still for a minute, and then they one and all rushed forward crying "Sasuke!" Most of the villagers threw glances that could kill at Naruto, but he brushed them off. He started to walk away when he heard a faint, even to him, "Wait."

Naruto looked around to see Sasuke being held up by three dozen or so hands. "You are powerful enough to make my brother look like a kid playing ninja. You could have been Rookie of All Time. Why not?" All the villagers gasped, both at the mention of Itatchi and the scope of the demon's power.

Their thoughts were cut off by the feeling of a _very_ kind smile. "The Rookie of the Year should be the one who learned the most. I learned all this years ago. I don't deserve the title." And with that, Naruto walked away while Sasuke passed out.

Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru, Shikamaru, and Hinata detached from the group and followed Naruto. They started flooding him with compliments and questions alike. "Brilliant move." "How the hell did you do that?" "N-nice work N-Naruto-kun." "Will you tell me how you learned how to do that?" _"Can you please answer Kiba's question?"_

Naruto laughed. "Thanks, practice, thank you, again practice, and I just did Akamaru." The gang followed Naruto as he walked up to… the Hokage? "Hello Hokage-sama." They all gave a little bow while Sarutobi waved it off. "Please, don't be so formal. So Naruto, would your friends like to accompany us to Ichiraku's?"

They were all struck senseless. Kyuubi had to take temporary control to stop Naruto from falling to the ground laughing. "Everyone, allow me to introduce you to my adoptive father: Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure. Or as I call him, Old Man Hokage."

The whole year Naruto had refused to tell them who his surrogate dad was. All of his friends had bugged him about not telling them. Now they knew. "Um, sure. We'd love to." Hinata said, for once not stuttering.

The others nodded, and so Naruto set out with his friends and family to have dinner to celebrate him becoming a ninja of the village that he loved.

**Well, there's another chap. Give those reviews I love, and check back in. But with school coming up, that may be a bit later than usual. Sorry. Good night everybody!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! Just going to tell you that there is a change in the harem. I just put TenTen, who I hate being paired with Naruto, on the list because I thought a harem had to be 4 girls and there was no way in hell I was adding Ino. So, I am adding Tayuya to the list, so now you know who Naruto's love interests will be in this story. **

**And, may I take a moment to proclaim the joy to the world that is school. Nothing like lugging around a 20-pound backpack after a long day of endless work and then having instrument lessons for the whole family depending on the day. Anyways, Read, Review, Enjoy! **

**P.S. I'm starting my next story after this. I'm not going to reveal much, just that it involves… sailing.**

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

"_Animal speech"_

'_**Kyuubi thoughts'**_

**P.P.S. I don't own Naruto or its characters.**

* * *

Sasuke sat in his hospital bed. Though none of the cuts were deep, he had been treated as if he was on the brink of death, seeing as nearly every doctor in the hospital had worked on him.

However, the raven-haired boy's mind was on other things._'Naruto… who is he really? Itatchi was the greatest ninja that this village ever saw and what I told him was true. But he doesn't indulge it. He purposely held back because he believed that he didn't deserve the title of Rookie of the Year __because__ of his abilities.'_

Sasuke tossed and turned it over in his head until he had done the mental equivalent of covering a training ground with craters. Finally, after the last doctor left with a look at Konoha's last Uchiha, Sasuke reached a conclusion. _'I will treat him with respect with my dying breath. I know he won't turn like my brother. He could, no, will be this village's greatest protector._

* * *

'_**Hey, kit. Hate to interrupt your beauty sleep, but its 7:30.' **_Naruto's head, which had been filled of images of ramen and his friends, snapped up so fast that it was only the combined healing abilities of Naruto and Kyuubi that stopped his neck from snapping.

"The hell, fox!Why didn't you wake me up?" Kyuubi physically chuckled. _**'Well, considering you can get there in the course of a millisecond, I felt I didn't need to.' **_Naruto calmed down.

'_In the time it takes me to put on my cloak, can you answer me a question Sarutobi can't?' __**'Shoot,' **_Kyuubi thought while Naruto rose from his comfortable bed. _'Why can't I do a Henge for more than one minute? I feel dishonest hiding my form from my friends.' _The last was thought with a furrow in the fur above Naruto's eyes.

Kyuubi gave a mental sigh. _**'Our chakra, that's why. A Henge is a delicate thing, and our chakra is too chaotic to sustain it for more than a minute or so. Still, what's holding you back from showing our form to your friends? If you trust them that much, you should trust they won't overreact and run away screaming.'**_

Naruto gave a sigh of his own. He spoke aloud because his half of the mind was so troubled. "I do. I just don't want to take the risk." And with that he travelled to the Academy courtyard in the time it took most people to blink.

Naruto was convinced that the Yondaime's famous Hiraishin jutsu was leaked to the school. Almost the instant he stepped foot on the courtyard, all the students and sensei was on him.

"Where did you learn that move?" a random boy asked.

"How could you do that to Sasuke-kun?" a distraught girl screamed.

"Will you be my boyfriend?" the girl next to her asked.

"What was that style?"

"Will you be my boyfriend?"

"You almost killed Sasuke-kun!"

"You wretched fox, I'm gonna kill you!"

The last one got everyone's attention. Mizuki was in the air, with a giant shurikan in his hand. No sooner had that fact registered than Mizuki had thrown it at Naruto. The boy in imminent danger gave a bored yawn.

'_Which counter should I use? It's your turn to choose.' __**'I'd go with that variation of that Hyuuga move.' **__'Sure.' _Naruto looked at the giant spinning piece of metal with amusement in his eyes, if anyone could have seen them.

"Kitsune Fist Style: Claw Rotation!" Naruto started to spin like a top in front of an enraptured audience. A sphere of purple chakra appeared around Naruto, just like the Hyuuga's 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation. However, when the shurikan came near, it wasn't deflected as they expected. It was caught.

The form that looked like a chakra outline of Naruto stepped out of the dome and caught the shurikan. It then went back into the dome, carrying the shurikan with it. A black shape was found in the sphere among the purple now. Then a fox claw, about the size of a house, emerged from the dome, still carrying the shurikan.

Mizuki could only watch in fear as his own shurikan was thrown back at him. Just in time, he managed to twist out of the way of the deadly piece of metal. But this left him wide open. The claw, which hadn't stepped back in yet, reached out and grabbed Mizuki, burning the man's skin from the density of the chakra.

Mizuki stared at the claw as if it were the hands of Satan, Cerberus, Medusa, and every other mythological beast rolled into one. Naruto couldn't see the look, as he was still rotating at speeds that could make visible light jealous, but if he had he would have needed surgery to save his lungs from exploding from laughter. After the claw spun with the dome a few times, it let go of a near apoplexy Mizuki.

The entire crowd, temporarily silenced, didn't react as Naruto, stopping on a penny, walked towards the building. He took his seat near the back of the class and waited for the group to realize they had to get back in the building. Surprisingly, the first person to enter the room was Sasuke. He gave Naruto a look that would seem normal to any other person, but what Naruto saw as a message as clear as the sky. _'I respect you and wish to be your friend.'_

Naruto gave the barest twitch of a nod. Sasuke gave his own in turn and he sat down, with some difficulty due to the somewhat hidden bandages, not out of sight. Next came both boy's fan girls, and finally the boys and Iruka sensei. Everyone looked like they would love to make more noise about Naruto, but they stayed silent, through some supreme effort of self-control.

"Now, today we shall split you into 3-person teams and assign you your Jonin senseis. Everyone shall meet their sensei after lunch." A few murmurs of confusion ran through the crowd, while Kiba raised his voice, which hurt Naruto's advanced ears. "Why to we have to be split into teams? We'd do better off on our own without anyone getting in the way!" _"I second that motion!" _Akamaru put in, though only Naruto understood.

Naruto, deciding that any and all anonymity was lost, answered the question himself. "One unimportant reason is that Konoha doesn't have enough Jonin to fit every graduate with a sensei. But the real reason is that although individual abilities are valued highly, in the Shinobi world a team is only as strong as their teamwork. If a team was sent on a mission of vital importance, feuding with each other would only serve to increase the chances of the mission's failure and their chances of getting killed. This is why we have 3-person teams."

Iruka gave applause to this statement, while everyone simply starred. "If you were still my student, I would give you a 100 test score and no homework for a week. That is precisely why. Now, if there are no more interruptions, here are the teams.

As Iruka listed off the names, Shikamaru whispered across to Naruto "Since when have you been this smart?" Naruto gave an equally quiet whisper of "I always was, just didn't want to show off." Naruto returned his attention past the dreamy stares of his fan girls to Sakura and Hinata, wondering why his romantic attraction to the pinkette and almost-more-than-friends one to the heiress was unusually high today. _**'It's mating season for me, so all your feelings for your future mates are acting up.' **_

Naruto was about to protest that they were not his future mates when Iruka snapped him out with a slight increase in voice. "And Team 7: Sakura Haruno," Said maiden looked up. "Sasuke Uchiha," which elected groans from all the girls, even Naruto's fan girls, and a look of outrage from Ino. "And Naruto no Kitsune." Inner Sakura gave a little dance at the fact both the guys she liked would be on the same team as her.

Hinata was feeling a little down when her own team was called, which brightened her mood a little. "Team 8: Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame." Both friends took a long look at the introverted bug master.

"Can't believe it. Sakura on the same team as Sasuke-kun _and _Naruto. What did I do to deserve this?" Ino was angrily hissing as she glared daggers at her opponent in winning Sasuke's love. "Aw, cheer up Ino. It's not the end of the world. Our dads were in a team you know." Chouji said while eating his usual potato chips. "Kami forbid I get stuck on a team with you!" She almost yelled back, so loud she missed who Team 9 was. "And finally, Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. That is all. You can go to lunch now."

Everyone else went outside while Ino just sat down as if she had just been told she was heading toward a guillotine with her name on it. Naruto found Sasuke and Sakura and took them to where he usually sat with the whole gang.

"Well, it stinks you, me, and Hinata aren't on a team together, but I'm good." Kiba was overloud as usual, while Sakura took it as a cover to _slowly_ inch her hand towards Naruto's hood. "It does. Well, anyway, how are you Sasuke-kun?" Naruto asked while pretending to not notice Sakura's hand. "I'm fine." the boy replied, looking as moody as always, though Naruto found an undercurrent of respect in his voice. _**'Congratulations, you got your first servant who will follow you until death.' **_Naruto ignored Kyuubi's too serious joke as easily as ignoring a fly.

* * *

The rest of the lunch passed with plans of how their lives as ninja would be, while Sakura kept on going, millimeter by millimeter, for Naruto's hood. "Sakura, I appreciate you want to put your arm around me, but it's time to go." The Kitsune walked of while an abashed Sakura followed. "Don't worry, you're not the first. I tried my Byakugan once, and he disappeared before they were on for a second." Hinata told her with no stutter; these moments of confidence were becoming more frequent; soon the blue-haired girl would not have trouble speaking at all.

The sensei for each team gradually showed up. After 15 minutes, Naruto saw a familiar face. "Kurenai Yuuhi for Team 8." The red-eyed mistress said. She gave a small wink to Naruto, which Naruto responded with a weak Genjutsu of him giving her one back without the cloak to hide it. She gave a slight smile, and led two of Naruto's friends away.

5 minutes later, Asuma showed up for his team. "Asuma Sarutobi for Team 10." He had his customary cigarette in his mouth. Naruto subtly used wind chakra to write on the back wall "Do I have Kakashi?" Asuma gave a nod which most would assume was to look at his team. They to were led away, making Team 7 the sole occupants of the room, for Iruka had left. It continued this way for another 40 minutes.

"Where is he?" Sakura asked, more to break the silence than to answer her question. Both boys gave no answer. Another 90 minutes passed, by which time even Sasuke's stoic expression was just an act. Naruto, used to Kakashi's lack of punctuality, simply had a simple debate with Kyuubi over whether claws or teeth were a better way to kill. Finally, the former ANBU stuck his head in the door with a "Yo." Inner Sakura was exposed for a moment.

"WHERE ON THIS FORSAKEN EARTH WERE YOU? WE'VE BEEN WAITIN 2 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Naruto simply snapped to and said "Bit early Kakashi-kun. I didn't expect you for another half hour." This statement was met with twitching eyes and confused expressions from both Sakura and Sasuke. "To answer the loud-mouth, I was off mourning a friend. To answer Naru-kun, Obito was particularly silent, so I thought I might come here."

Naruto nodded while his teammates looked on in wonder. _'It's like they've known each other for years.' _was the thought that went through their heads. "Meet me on the roof for introductions." And with that both Naruto and Kakashi vanished, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to climb the stairs on their own.

When they were all situated on the roof, Kakashi said "Now, I want you to give me your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future. Pinky can go first." Sakura raised a hand. "Sensei, shouldn't you do that first, considering you were late or early or whatever?" Kakashi looked at her before answering from his position on the rail.

"I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have many likes and dislikes. My hobbies… you're not old enough. And my dreams are none of your business." Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a look. "That didn't help. All we learnt was his name." Sakura whispered behind Naruto's back. "Now, your turn." Kakashi said, pointing a finger at Sakura.

She took a deep breath. "My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like…" Here she looked at the boys next to her. "My hobbies are…" Again she looked at them both. "My dreams…" Here she had a red spot on her cheeks. "And what you dislike?" Kakashi inquired, noting her looks at his longtime student and his supposed prodigy student.

Sakura gave a bored look. "Ino-pig." Several hundred feet away, the platinum-blond gave a sneeze. "And you." Kakashi was pointing at Sasuke now. "I am Sasuke Uchiha. I dislike many things, and I don't really care for anything. My hobbies are training. I don't have a dream, but I have an ambition: to revive my clan and destroy a certain someone." Still the emotionless self on the surface, still the air of respect for Naruto which only a trained expert could see.

Naruto gave his own revised intro before Kakashi had to point. "I like strategy games, ramen, and Hinata-chan and Sakura-chan. I dislike soft food and people who never look past the exterior. My hobbies are training and napping. And my dream for the future is to protect this village until the villagers see me for what I really am. My name is Naruto no Kitsune." Kakashi was surprised he mentioned his romantic feelings, but otherwise it was what he expected.

"Meet me at the training grounds near the memorial stone at 7:00 sharp. And don't eat breakfast, unless you want to puke. Later." And with that the silver-haired man disappeared. Sakura was blushing when Naruto got up. "In order to celebrate us being a team, I'm treating you all to ramen." The cloaked boy then strode off with Sakura and Sasuke following belatedly after a moment.

He led them to the Ichiraku's Ramen. They all sat down when the chef Tenuchi greeted them like old friends."Naruto, always a pleasure! Please sit down! You and your friends can have whatever you want! On the house!" At the confused looks of his team Naruto gave an explanation. "I've eaten here so many times I probably gave him enough money to build an entire string of ramen shops. But he insists on staying here, so all the ramen has his personal touch." Then in a louder voice, Naruto said "A large miso ramen with everything, and keep them coming."

Sasuke and Sakura gave their own orders, and within a few minutes, they had their bowls full of ambrosial noodles before them. They didn't even glance at them, as they were busy staring at Naruto as he scarfed one bowl after another. The thing was, he ate them so fast that one moment a full bowl was before him, and then it was empty in the blink of an eye.

While he was eating, Naruto went over what he knew of his team. Sasuke was moody on the surface, with some hidden respect for him just underneath, but deep down in the depths of his soul was a darkness, an insatiable need to get more and more power. Naruto hoped he could remedy that.

Sakura… well she was Sakura. She was smart, beautiful, and had a gentle sort of kindness when she wanted too. Like Sasuke, on the surface she put up an act of what everyone wanted her to be. She obsessed with Sasuke because that's what every other girl did, but deep down she only saw him as a friend.

A new customer entered the shop. It was Hinata. Naruto looked at her, feeling the amplified feeling brought on by Kyuubi's mating cycle. "Hi Hinata-chan." She looked up, surprised. "Oh, hey Naruto-kun. Hello, Sakura, Sasuke." She sat down and gave her order. Sakura, realizing she hadn't spoken since entering the shop, tried to start up a conversation.

"So, Hinata, what's your sensei like?" Hinata was about to answer, but Naruto beat her to the punch. "Kurenai-chan is a genjutsu master; she is romantically involved with Asuma-kun, and is generally a kind person." Sasuke asked the obvious question. "How do you know so much about all these Jonin?" This time Hinata answered. "His adoptive father is the Sandaime Hokage."

Sasuke and Sakura won the jaw-dropping World Series. "You were adopted by the Hokage?" Sakura asked, while Sasuke was still reeling. "Yep, since I was 4." Sasuke ate his ramen and left without another word. _'Wonder what's wrong with him.' _Sakura thought. Hinata drew up a deep breath, but Sakura spoke first. "Hey Naruto, can I tell you something?" "Sure." Hinata asked "May I as well?" Naruto looked at the two of them before saying "Sure," again.

They both blurted it out at the same time. "I have a crush on you." They both simultaneously covered their mouths, and then looked at each other, then finally at Naruto. Said boy was in a state of shock. He then said "Me, too, for the both of you." And then he vanished.

* * *

Sarutobi sat at the dinner table conversing with Kakashi when Naruto came in. "Hello Naruto," he said. Naruto didn't respond, just walked really slowly to his room. Sarutobi frowned. Kakashi tried his hand at getting the young Kitsune to speak. "Just to let you know, I'm giving the bell test tomorrow." Still there was silence.

At that moment, Konohamaru jumped from behind a door, going for Naruto's hood. He didn't attempt to stop him, thus revealing his fox features to the world. Sarutobi rushed forward and locked his grandson in his room before he hit the ground. "Naruto!" he yelled at the still unresponsive boy.

Only then did he look up. "What?" he said in an honestly confused tone. "Konohamaru pulled back your hood, and you did absolutely nothing. What is wrong?" Sarutobi used the tone he used to draw the council to his point of view. "Nothing; just that it's mating season for Kyuubi and the two girls I love just said they had crushes on me and I said so back."

Kakashi and Sarutobi were shocked, providing an opening for Naruto to retreat to his room and lose himself in the calm cage of sleep. However, Kyuubi's subconscious affected the dreams, resulting in some pervert images which Jiraiya would think were inappropriate. Needless to say, Naruto slept with a nose bleed.

* * *

The next day, the hungry Team 7 waited in the training grounds. Sakura kept glancing at Naruto, Sasuke sat in brooding silence, and Naruto sat on the ground in the lotus position. When Sakura came over, or tried to, she was pushed back by an unseen force. "Sakura-chan, I'm trying to meditate. You, I, and Hinata can discuss it when the test is over." She backed away.

After waiting with grumbling stomachs for 3 hours, Kakashi showed up. "Yo," he said, rolling Sakura's yell of "YOU'RE LATE!" like it was nothing more than a fly. "Today, you will go through the real genin exam. The test at the academy was just to see if you had the potential to be ninja."

Sasuke's brow furrowed, Sakura looked confused, and Naruto simply stood up. "You're goal is to take these bells from me." So saying, he held up two silver bells. Sakura raised her hand. "Sensei, why are there only two?" "The goal is to try to turn us against each other. With the threat of being sent back to the academy, we would try to take him down separately, doomed to fail. A ninja must look underneath the underneath, so if we were worthy of the title ninja, we would see that teamwork is key, and gang up against him." Naruto said this in a matter-of-fact tone.

Kakashi sighed. "Must you always steal my fun Naruto-kun? Just because you've known this for years doesn't mean you have to spoil it for everyone else." Kakashi held up the bells. "Since the cover has been blown, the point of this exercise is now just to evaluate your skills. Come at me as a team, and then we'll call it a day."

Sakura gained a new reason to like Naruto, while Sasuke just was relieved he didn't have to learn the lesson through trial and error. They jumped off into the trees, where Naruto laid out the plan. "I'll keep him busy, pushing him back. Sasuke, when he gets close, you jump him. When he tries to evade, Sakura grabs the bells. Break." Naruto rushed out at Kakashi after giving the plan, while Sasuke tried to adapt to the natural leadership of Naruto that he would evidently have to follow.

"Kitsune Fist Style: Claw Hurricane!" Naruto followed up the cry with a variation, much more graceful and deadly, of Gai's Leaf Hurricane. Kakashi, knowing Naruto's style left no room to counter, simply avoided the strikes as best he could. Then Sasuke jumped up behind him, surprising Kakashi due to the fact that Naruto had hidden all their chakra signatures. "Snake-Tiger-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

After the words left his mouth, a giant ball of fire came out next. Kakashi jumped into the air, surprise leaving a hole in his guard. Sakura jumped out of the trees and snagged the bells. When Kakashi landed, he was greeted by the triumphant smiles, or in Naruto's case, the feeling of a triumphant smile. "Congratulations. I know Naruto is a master strategist, but I never imagined your plan would work on the first try. We start missions tomorrow. Until then, celebrate your becoming of ninja." With that, the silver-haired Shinobi left to visit Obito. Or rather his grave.

"Follow me." Naruto led Sakura away while Sasuke took the familiar path to the now empty Uchiha district. Sakura followed after Naruto, noting that he took charge the way a judge or leader took charge. She liked that. After a few minutes of slow jogging for Naruto, all-out sprinting for Sakura, they came upon the Hyuuga mansion. Hinata rushed out to greet them.

"Let's go somewhere more private." Naruto led the interested females to a clearing in the forest, where he turned to look at them. "Now, I like both of you, very much." Both girls went shades of red not yet discovered by mankind. "I don't want to choose between you; it would only serve to hurt one of you. So can you girls, um, share me?" The great protector of Konoha actually sounded nervous.

Both girls looked surprised, looked at each other, and nodded. "I never noticed, but I always thought that bigamy was kind of cool." Sakura looked at her feet when she said this, while Hinata just kept on blushing.

Naruto let out a deep breath. "Then there's something you should know about me." Making one of the hardest decisions of his life, he lifted his hood. The girls didn't scream bloody murder, but they did look scared and confused beyond comprehension. So Naruto spilled the beans. He told them about the attack on him, Kyuubi, and everything that happened since. Kyuubi pitched in a few times, convincing the girls even more.

At the end, Naruto said "Now that you know the truth, you can decide whether you want to be with me or not. I perfectly understand if you never want to see me-""Are you nuts?" Sakura interrupted. "You're still Naruto-kun, we just know what y-you look like." Hinata looked him straight in the slit-instead-of-pupil eyes when she said this.

Naruto gave a grateful smile, which didn't show off his fangs too much, and gave them both a hug. "Well, I'll see you both later." "'Kay." They said the farewell at the exactly the same moment and bid fair to suggest that it would always be this way when they talked to him. Naruto took off for home, thinking that at least his love life was bound to be interesting.

**Sorry for the delay, but I am so booked what with school and lessons and family events that I barely have a few hours a week to write. Hope you enjoy this interesting turn of events and check back to see my new epic which I will start writing along with this one. Believe it!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello my fans! This is the best experience of my life! You have no idea (actually you do) of coming home and seeing your e-mail full of praise for your work. In this chap, you'll see the scope of Naruto's true power, or at least more than he is currently showing. And you can check for my **_**other**_** fic which I graciously gave you the title of after this. Or the other way around. I'm uploading them all at once. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters.**

"Speech."

'_Thoughts.'_

"_Animal Speech."_

'_**Kyuubi Thoughts.'**_

* * *

Kakashi sat in the shadows of a tree and pressed the mike on his neck. "Everyone in position?" Sasuke responded "Yes, I'm at point A." Sakura sounded off "Point B, clear." Naruto put in his own two cents with "Here, and you know I could catch this thing _without_ the cloak and dagger, right?"

Kakashi ignored the comment and said "Commence the capture." All three Genin jumped out of their respective hiding places, going for the frightening shape in the darkness. Sensing their approach, it started to run. Naruto, however, managed to grab the creature's tail. He brought it into the light revealing… a cat.

"We've captured Fluffy. The mission is complete." Naruto was clearly not excited for the mission. _"NO! PLEASE, DON'T TAKE ME BACK TO __**HER! **__DON'T TAKE ME BACK TO THE NEVER-ENDING SUFFOCATION! DON'T TAKE ME BACK TO MAMA!" _Even though only Naruto understood, the cat's distress was evident to everyone.

In its futile attempts to escape, the cat managed to scratch Naruto no Kitsune several times. The greatest ninja Konoha had ever seen was getting more annoyed by the second. It wasn't the cries that annoyed him, nor the cuts, which healed almost instantly. It was the fact that he had been trained non-stop for 8 years in the art of the Shinobi, learning how to kill in the space of a second and gather information right under the enemy's nose. And here he was, recovering an escaped cat, albeit a cat that belonged to the Fire Daimyo's wife. It was maddening.

He repeated his sentiments half an hour later to his adoptive father after watching the rather large pet-owner take back her cat with much weeping and bone-crushing hugging. For the barest instant, Naruto felt sorry for the cat. When she left, Naruto said "Sarutobi-kun, with all due respect, the cat's out of the bag, metaphorically speaking. Everyone knows about my training ever since I joined the team and a certain _someone _blabbed to everyone. So it seems downright foolish to send a team containing a member that could do SS-rank missions like they're nothing on D-rank missions.

Kakashi had a little giggle. It was only natural he should brag. He had a goddamn Kage-level Genin on his team! Besides, the village deserved to know Naruto's life story, minus what he was. Iruka, on the other hand, who was serving at the mission office for the day, stood up with a look of horror on his face."Naruto, how dare you! I know that the Hokage's your father, but he's still the Hokage."

Sarutobi, meanwhile, was laughing. So loud that the other people in the room assigning and receiving missions stared. Sakura just blushed. Naruto's proclamation just made her that much more hot for him. He, she, and Hinata had been a threesome for 2 weeks now. Though half the times Sakura and Hinata were in perfect sync, almost like they were one girl, the other half they were totally singular. It often led to fights over who had Naruto's attention. But that was just a part of the relationship. Naruto always managed to make the dates heavenly, despite the fact most people stare at three people going on one date.

Both sets of parents had given their consent, though Hinata's dad had been a tough sell. Only the fact that Naruto was technically a Namikaze as well as the adoptive son of the Sandaime had convinced him in the end. Sakura's parents just took the news and said nothing more. Sakura secretly suspected that they were using her like a probe to find out Naruto's behavior, and she knew exactly why. Naruto always gave her and Hinata a kiss on the cheek at the end of each date, and she always saw the lovely red fur and ticklish whiskers. She had come to find the feeling of fangs on her skin to be a wonderful sensation.

Sakura was snapped out of her musings by Sarutobi's laughter coming to an end. "I can't deny that. Very well Naruto, I'll give you a higher mission. But since not all of your squad has been trained from the age of 4 by Konoha's best of the best, it's only a C-rank." The aging leader held up a scroll, while Iruka looked him like he had said "Thank you," to someone calling him a two-faced dog. Naruto gave a shrug. "I can live with that." In the semi-privacy of his mind, Kyuubi added _**'Better that nothing, kit.'**_

"This is an escort mission. You will protect a bridge-builder on his way back home to the Land of Waves." Sasuke, who was just as bored as Naruto at D-ranks, was suddenly thrilled at the prospect of beating up ninja. "Of course, you're only expected to come across some bandits or thieves." At that moment, only Sasuke's respect for Naruto held him back from a retort. But if Naruto could live with it, than so could Sasuke.

"You can come in now," Sarutobi said in a louder voice. The doors behind them opened and Team 7 came face to face (or hood) with their charge. An aging man with a sun hat, working robes, and the smell of alcohol was the sight they beheld. "These are my ninja? They're just runts! That guy in the cloak looks suspicious, the duck-butt looks like he's a wimp and the girl is a girl! I'm Tazuna, the master bridge-builder, and I demand ninja, not kids!" The sake in his blood system caused him to slur his words, but the insult was perfectly clear. Naruto had to hold back Sakura while Kakashi held back Sasuke.

"I advise you not to insult my friends. I might get mad myself." Naruto no Kitsune stared at Tazuna the bridge-builder and he just taunted the half-demon. "What are you gonna do about it? You're just a kid." In the blink of an eye, Naruto was behind Tazuna. In the time it took everyone to register that thought, a cut appeared on Tazuna's arm. "That's also what I would do to the enemy, only a thousand-fold." Tazuna chose that moment to shut up.

* * *

The next morning, everyone assembled at the gates out of Konoha. Hinata came to wish them good luck. "Don't get hurt out there." "You know I won't." Hinata gave him a little kiss on his cheek for luck. She then took off before anyone could say anything else. "Okay, let's get going." Kakashi took point while Team 7 brought up the rear with Tazuna in the middle.

It was a very sunny day, so everyone didn't bother to break the silence. Tazuna, now sober, looked just a touch worried. "What's wrong Tazuna-san?" Sakura asked. "Oh, nothing, just wondering how my family's doing." The silence returned. After a while, they came across a puddle. Naruto and Kakashi were instantly alert. To keep up the cover, Naruto said "Hey Sasuke? I have a confession about our fight. Even though I removed my weights, I still held back." Sasuke looked unsurprised. "Considering what you did to Mizuki on the spur of the moment, I'm not surprised."

By this time they had passed the puddle. Two Kiri ninja, with strange masks and a claw with a chain that connected them, jumped out of the puddle, going for Kakashi. Naruto instantly reacted. He killed the one closest to him with a simple thrust through the heart, and then used his momentum to throw the body in such a way to chain the second ninja with his own chain. This all took the space of two seconds.

Comprehension was soon to dawn on everyone else. Naruto told the worried Sakura "I'm fine, really." Sasuke and Kakashi went to check on the Oni Brothers, for that was what they were. The surviving brother was going crazy both from the death of his brother and the pain of the spiked chain, so the answers they got from their questions. "Who were they after, you?" Sasuke asked Kakashi. "No," Kakashi turned and pointed at Tazuna. "They were after him."

Tazuna's looked of guilt proved Kakashi's statement. "We were hired to guard you against the normal riff-raff. If you expected ninja to come after you, you should have hired a B-, or even an A-rank mission. You've gone behind Konoha's back. What have you to say?"

Tazuna took a moment to compose him. "My country has been monopolized by Gato for a while now. He may show a thriving shipping industry to the world at large, but he himself is a man who surrounds himself with an army of hired thugs to carry out his dirty work. My country is an island nation, so the only way to get goods is to pay his usurious prices. My bridge would connect us to the mainland, negating his power, so that's why he sent those ninja after me. My country is so poor that even a C-rank would devastate our savings. That's why I couldn't hire a B- or A-rank mission."

There was silence while Kakashi thought it over. _**'This same thing happens all the time in hell; don't hold it against him.' **_Naruto took Kyuubi's words to heart. "We can't very well go back now can we. Far be it from Konoha to deny a country's salvation." With that remark, he started back up the path. Everyone followed, even Kakashi. Some people you just follow despite your rank. Tazuna had a look of immense relief on his face.

* * *

During the boat ride into the Land of Waves, everyone got a look at Tazuna's humongous bridge. Sakura almost broke the silence, but a hand on her shoulder from Naruto stayed her tongue. When they got off, Tazuna thanked the boatman. "Just save our country," was all he said.

After a while, the mist cleared and Naruto heard something. _"I don't like the sun. Why did master Zabuza have to let me out here?" _These complaints put Naruto on alert. He checked the bush from whence the voice came to find a snow rabbit. That and the message from earlier meant that the spinning sword headed their way didn't surprise him. "Everyone duck!" The urgency in Naruto's voice caused everyone to do so immediately. None too soon. They one and all heard the whistle of the sword as it passed.

The 6-foot long cleaver embedded itself in a tree. In a second, there was a man standing on it. A man with bandages covering his mouth, leg and arm warmers, and a bare chest. "Well, well, it seems one of you brats isn't as dumb as you look." Kakashi and Naruto said in perfect unison "Zabuza Momochi, I presume."

Said criminal laughed. "I'm honored that the famous Copy-nin Kakashi Hatake would know my name. I'm eager to see that Sharingan eye of yours." Sasuke looked bewildered. _'The Sharingan is a kekkai genkai that only is found in the Uchiha clan. How could Kakashi-sensei have it?' _"I would love to bring down the man who killed his entire academy class at the age of 12, but I believe that I should let Naruto have the honor."

Zabuza looked down on the cloaked boy. "I could take him down in a second flat. I'm Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist." Naruto responded in kind. "And I'm Naruto no Kitsune, the Ultimate Protector of Konohagakure." Zabuza chuckled. "We'll see if you deserved to be called that after your dead." Zabuza and his sword disappeared and reappeared before them, with his hands in his favorite seal. "Hidden Mist Jutsu!" They were covered in a thick mist in seconds. Naruto countered by releasing enough chakra to blow it all completely away.

Zabuza looked shocked. "How could you do that?" Naruto gave an evil grin, which was felt by everyone in the vicinity. "You haven't seen anything yet." Naruto threw his arms to his sides. Tan weights flew out and destroyed all the trees in their path. His legs got the same treatment. "Now, let's begin." Naruto rushed forward, his hand on a direct path for Zabuza's neck. Only pure reflex brought the sword up in time. _'Shit. This kid is fast. And strong.' _The last was thought when Zabuza's arm quivered from trying to arrest Naruto's momentum.

Zabuza quickly recovered and pushed Naruto back with his blade. He followed up by stabbing his opponent through the chest. For a split second, Sakura's heart stopped. Then Naruto's body dissolved into water. "A water clone?" Zabuza turned around just in time to see Naruto with his hand's going through rapid-fire seals. He was doing them so fast Zabuza could only get the barest gist of a… claw? This all lasted half a second. Then Naruto cried out "Water Style: Tsunami Jutsu!"

Zabuza couldn't believe his eyes as a giant wall of water appeared. He couldn't believe it when it hit him dead on, carrying him tumbling hundreds of feet back. He was only saved when he hit a sturdy tree that didn't capsize like the hundreds before it. Eventually, the water drained away, leaving Zabuza half unconscious leaning on the tree. Naruto was standing in front of him. "Who… what are you?" Naruto prepared his hand for the killing blow as his teammates and Tazuna rushed toward them. "I'm your doom." Before the blow was dealt, Naruto dodged the senbon that were rushing toward his target. They hit the neck, and Zabuza finally closed his eyes.

Naruto looked up at a tree to see a hunter-nin from Kirigakure. He looked to be about his age, though only Naruto's nose was able to tell it was a boy. "Thank you. If you hadn't come in, that would have been difficult." Sasuke looked up at the ambiguity. "Who are you?" Naruto, as always, answered the question before the hunter-nin could. "He's a hunter-nin from Kirigakure. They hunt down missing-nin so that the secrets of their village are not found out by others."

The boy nodded, his face covered by a mask, and jumped down to pick Zabuza up. "You have my gratitude." The boy than took off. Naruto disappeared as well. Before anyone could question what happened, Zabuza and his "killer" fell on the ground with Naruto standing over them. "You're not a hunter-nin. You work for Zabuza." Naruto wasn't asking, he was stating it as if it were pure fact, which it was. "Yes, my name is Haku. Zabuza is my master. I would give my life for him." So saying, Haku removed his mask so everyone could see the look of conviction on his face.

"How did you know?" Kakashi was subtly making sure the pair wouldn't escape, and an explanation would distract them from his preparations. "One reason was the senbon. They pierced a part of the neck where, hit properly, someone would enter a state of half-death, perfectly mistakable for the real thing. Another reason was the fact that a hunter-nin exhumes a corpse right then and there, and Haku here took off. Finally, Haku has a kekkai genkai and we all know how much Kiri despises those."

Haku looked up in surprise. "How did you know of my kekkai genkai?" Naruto allowed himself a smug smile. "My nose is several times stronger than a normal one by itself. By focusing chakra to it, I can know everything about someone merely by their scent: their gender, bathing habits… and blood type. Since 'kekkai genkai' literally means 'bloodline limit', I knew your blood's unique scent was the result of this."

Haku nodded, and then frowned. "Wait a minute. How did you catch me? The human eye cannot track my movements." This wasn't a boast, but a statement. "My other senses are just as powerful as my nose, so I was able to see you. Besides, when my weights are off, not even the Sharingan can track my movements. Quite frankly I'm surprised Zabuza could react so fast. Now, we'll discuss matters when Zabuza awakes, and I'd prefer that to be in Tazuna's house." So saying, Naruto went through some hand seals. He was done in a tenth of a second. "Ninja Art: Mass Teleportation Jutsu."

Suddenly, everyone felt like pins and needles were covering every inch of their skin. At the same time there appeared to be a heat haze so dense that you couldn't see your hand clearly when it was an inch from your face. Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. They found themselves right outside Tazuna's front door. "Kid, I'll never insult you again." Tazuna opened the door.

* * *

Zabuza slowly regained consciousness. Recalling what happened, he sat up in a flash. His body started to complain fiercely. "Slow down Zabuza-kun. You don't want to hurt yourself." Zabuza turned to see Haku in an unfamiliar doorway. "Haku, where are we? This isn't the hideout!" "No, it's the bridge-builder's house. Naruto-kun brought us here." Zabuza suddenly looked wary. "What's with the kun?"

Haku gave his innocent laugh. "Considering he spared your life even after he caught me while I fled, I feel the kun is well deserved. Despite his power, he has a good heart." Haku left while Zabuza tried to process this information. He soon reappeared, along with Kakashi's team, the bridge-builder, and his family. "So, Naruto was if? Are you here to offer me a last request?"

Naruto, who was standing very near, shook his head. "No, no, no. Nothing of the kind. I'm offering you amnesty." Zabuza and Haku were silent as the grave. Finally, Zabuza asked "What?" "I'm offering you the position of Jonin of Konohagakure. All your past wrongs would be pardoned."

"How can you guarantee this? And how do I know you won't just throw me in prison?" Naruto chuckled. "Well, since I'm the adoptive son of the current Hokage as well as holding most of the council's respect, I think I can guarantee it. Think about it. No more running. No more fearing for your life. Just you, serving as a ninja in a different village."

Zabuza chewed it over for a while, while the rest of the company remained silent. Seeing his doubt, Naruto added "If you won't do it for yourself, do it for Haku-kun. He thinks of himself as your tool, but do you really want this life for him? He would be given the same treatment as you."

This last part seemed to really strike a chord in Zabuza. Truth be told, he _did_ care for Haku. "Fine, I'm in. But I should warn you, I might bring some unwanted attention to Konoha." Naruto shrugged, as if the matter was of no concern. "As soon as Tazuna finishes the bridge, we're off."

That night, Kyuubi took their body out into the woods. When he was sure they were not followed, he spoke. _**'Kit, I've been thinking. If you hadn't made that clone, you would have died. I think it's time you earned some of your inheritance.' **__'My inheritance?' __**'As you know, I'm head of the Kitsune clan. Which, given our merge, makes you the head too. Therefore, you have access to all my treasures. Among them is a--''**__—Sword?' __**'Yes. Now, do the demon summoning jutsu. Just add the demon seal to the beginning.'**_

Naruto complied with Kyuubi's wishes. He let blood come through the claw on his thumb, did the seal known only to demon kind, and then did the normal summoning jutsu. The instant he formed the last seal, a burst of flame shot up near his hand. When if cleared, a pitch black scabbard with a sword in it was floating near his hand. Naruto grabbed it reverently and pulled out the very long sword. The blade itself was blood-red down the center, with deep violet surrounding it like a shell. The hilt was silver and carved with demonic symbols, with a large ruby in the pommel. Though it should have weighed 5 or 6 pounds, it was light as a feather.

'_**Kit, say hello to Blood Fire. It will never break. The red part focuses chakra, so it's denser, while the violet part amplifies it. Basically, pour some juice into this and it comes out twice as strong.' **_Naruto experimentally poured some chakra into the blade, and flames that inverted the sword's colors (deep violet tinged with of blood-red) covered it instantly. Naruto found that he could control the flames like regular chakra.

Naruto put it back in its scabbard and let it go. It disappeared as it had appeared: in a burst of flame. The next day, Zabuza shared some info around the breakfast that Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, had prepared. "If I don't return within the week, Gato's probably going to just storm this place with everything he's got. They'll just be thugs, since I was his only ninja, but even that might be a challenge. He's got a village worth."

A sob broke out of Tazuna's grandson, Inari. "Why do you go up against Gato? He'll just kill you! You might think you're heroes, but you're not! There's no such thing!" Crying now, he left the room. There was silence, while Naruto heard Inari crying "Daddy, why did you have to die?" After a moment, Kakashi got up. "Sasuke, Sakura, I'm going to give you some training. Naruto, you train on your own."

After they had left, Naruto asked Zabuza "Can you train me in kinjutsu?" Zabuza looked surprised, but said he would. The healing herbs Haku and Naruto had found had almost doubled his recovery rate, meaning that Zabuza was only slightly breathing hard after carrying his sword to a secluded spot.

Zabuza showed much interest in Blood Fire when Naruto summoned it. "This was done by a master," was all he said though. Naruto was looking forward to the training, as the sword was the only weapon that Asuma didn't teach him to use. "Now, I want you to do 1000 slashes up, 1000 slashes down, 1000 slashes to the right, and 1000 slashes to the left. Then we'll have a light spar." If Naruto hadn't gone through equally sadistic training with Gai, he would have blown his top.

For the next hour, Naruto fulfilled the exercises Zabuza had him do. If it wasn't for the light weight of the weapon, it would have taken twice as long. When he was done, He faced Zabuza. With Naruto's weights on, his speed, though still impressive, was a fraction of what it had been earlier, so they were pretty well matched. Near the end, Naruto channeled chakra through Blood Fire, and spun Zabuza's sword out of his hand while the flames encircled him.

Zabuza clapped. "Well done. Even before the flames. You must have had extensive training with other weapons to be such a natural." Naruto laughed at this. They had a quick drink and went back to the house, the sky now dark since their fight took so long.

Sakura looked peachy, while Sasuke looked bruised and irritable. "He had you climb trees without hands?" Sakura gave a nod with a grin on her face, while Sasuke still sulked.

* * *

The rest of the week passed in a similar fashion. The night before Zabuza's week was up, Naruto spoke to Inari. Over the week, Naruto had found out the story of Inari's father from hearing him cry as well as asking around the village. "You know, heroes are real. We will beat Gato. You think we'll die, but we won't. And you know something. I don't think you're dad would appreciate you just crying over his death instead of fighting back and helping your grandfather."

Inari looked at him for a long moment, his eyes watery. "I know that, but it's a bit hard to do when you're going against someone who's invincible." "So try harder." The solution was so simple that Inari almost laughed at it. He ate his dinner and went to bed, thinking on how his dad always said to 'protect what you love with both your arms.'

The next day, Tazuna, Zabuza, Haku, and Team 7 were greeted at the bridge by Gato's smug face in front of an army of thugs. Since Naruto had left a clone at Tazuna's in case a scout force came, all their worry was for themselves. "Well, well, Zabuza. I see you have betrayed me." Zabuza called out to the dwarf "You were going to betray me anyway, so I decided to beat you to the punch. Plus, they make a convincing offer."

Gato laughed, seeming to think he was invulnerable. "In case that happened, I had a back-up plan. I found another one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Found him just wandering around with some weird cloak with his buddy. Both of them agreed to come." He directed their attention to a pair standing near the railing. A pair with black cloaks with red clouds. A pair that consisted of Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha. "Hello, Sasuke." Itachi said with a grin on his face.

**Bet you didn't see that coming! I know I planned to reveal this along with 'Naruto of the High Seas' but it' been so long since I updated that I wanted to release this ASAP. Review and return.**


	6. Chapter 6

**In case you didn't see my tirade on my homepage: OH TRAGEDY. ONLY ONE GUY LIKED MY SECOND FIC ENOUGH TO REVIEW IT! AND DON'T EVEN THINK TO TELL ME YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT! I TOLD YOU ABOUT IN THE LAST CHAPTER! I EVEN FELT SO BETRAYED THAT I PERMAENENTLY DELETED IT. NOW IT'S GONE FOR GOOD!**

**Now that that's out of my system, sorry for the delay. I had an uber bad cold and I spent almost a week on the couch doing nothing. But, yay, I missed school. I got back on Valentine's Day. Here's the chapter to say I love you all.**

"Speech."

'_Thoughts.'_

"_Animal Thoughts."_

'_**Kyuubi Thoughts.'**_

"_**Demon Speech."**_

"Itachi!" Sasuke was so consumed with rage and hate he was reduced to shouting. "Itachi!" he added again, sounding like a broken record in front of hundreds of thugs and his friends, and not looking like he cared. "My, this is interesting. We only came along to humor this little man before we killed him, and now my brother and my charge are right in front of me. Playing with victims pays off."

Gato stared at the weasel-like man with incredulousness. He actually had the nerve to snort. "Kill me? But I paid you! I OWN YOU!" This time the blue-faced gilled man in a cloak answered. "I don't know which is more pathetic. The fact you think that was pay, or the fact that you think now we're just gonna do whatever you want. I should get you with Sharktooth right now." So saying, Kisame grabbed the hilt of his famous blade.

"Now, now, Kisame. Be patient. Let our friends have the honor. Besides, I think you should save that blade for Naruto here." Kisame looked at Naruto for several minutes, while said boy stood like a statue, recognizing the men and the cloaks they wore. Akatsuki had been a priority for Naruto ever since he had discovered its existence when Jiraiya had popped into town for a book signing. He had told them all he had learned from his spy network. In exchange for Sarutobi giving him protection from the angry mob of woman who had been chasing him at the time.

"Sasuke, be quiet. If we're going to get them, surprise is needed. Kakashi, take Zabuza and Haku and take care of Gato. Sakura, protect Tazuna." Kakashi almost protested, but he stopped himself when he looked at Naruto. He had come to read the expressions hidden in the hood, and what he saw stayed his tongue. This wasn't the sweet, kind Naruto who had shown off his moves to impress everyone. This was the Naruto Danzo wanted. This was a cold, emotionless weapon. Naruto's youth had flown out the proverbial window, just as the two swordsmen miles away at Tazuna's had flown out the literal window thanks to Naruto's clone.

"Yes," was all Kakashi could manage. He walked toward the army, with Zabuza and Haku trailing as Sakura backed away. "Aren't you worried?" Haku was checking his senbon in their holsters. "He'll be fine." Kakashi revealed his eye without missing a beat. Zabuza just loosened his sword. In this way, they walked right up to the thugs. Then all hell broke loose.

Zabuza just started swinging. Go big and scary and they'll be too scared to dodge. He skewered them by the dozens. Haku formed his infamous ice mirrors and picked off the thugs one at a time, while all they could do was staring at either the mirrors orZabuza. Kakashi went covert, just getting all the guys before they saw him. And if anyone did, his Sharingan saw them before they even moved. In short, Gato was left defenseless all in the course of 5 minutes. Kakashi couldn't see Naruto's battle through the mirrors, but he didn't bother.

"Now listen hear! I'm Gato!" Zabuza walked right up to him with a kunai in hand. "Just shut up, you narcissist, greedy, useless man!" With that, Zabuza plunged the kunai right through Gato's head. He too fell to the ground, like his cannon fodder before him. "That was almost too easy." Kakashi laughed at Haku. "Hey, don't get cocky. The real bad guys were never in here.

Naruto stared at the Akatsuki duo. Sasuke had calmed down, but just barely. Naruto released his weights. Silently. No need to show off anymore. "Sasuke, stand back. The power I'm about to unleash could be dangerous up close." Sasuke snapped out of it and stared. But he dutifully complied. In their mind, Kyuubi said _**'Kit, are you sure. You've never gone past 2 tails.' **__'Yes, I can take it.' _ Putting his hands in the prayer-like seal, Naruto yelled "Release." With that, the seal holding back the tails loosened enough to let 3 through.

The effect was instantaneous. The very air shimmered with the power emanating off Naruto. Spare bits of plaster on the bridge floor flew past, while those surrounding him almost flew off too. Itachi's eyes widened, Kisame swore, and Sasuke just stared and thought _'He makes the Hokage look like a child. Where does all this come from?' _After a few seconds, Naruto reined it in, so that it was all contained in his body, though the air around him still vibrated. Under his cloak, 3 of his tails glowed purple.

Blood Fire appeared, while Sasuke was still gawking. "Sasuke, I'm going to link us. You'll share my power. Be careful with it and use it to keep Itachi busy." So saying, Naruto drew a seal on Sasuke's forehead with his own blood, in a way that didn't allow Sasuke to see his hand. Sasuke instantly felt the enormous energy slam into him. After a while it dulled, but now everything seemed slower, more defined. He could see movements before they were made.

"Guess that should be expected. The Sharingan is a demonic Byakugan, and that was demon chakra. Just use it to distract Itachi more." Sasuke couldn't believe his ears. He checked his reflection in a puddle, and saw he now had Sharingan eyes instead of normal ones. And the Sharingan were purple. "I'll ask what the hell all this is about after I kill Itachi." Naruto just nodded.

They turned to face their opponents. "Well, this is unexpected. But this is still good. Kisame, capture Naruto, don't let him intimidate you. I'll make sure my brother serves his purpose." Kisame just shrugged and turned to face Naruto. Naruto held Blood Fire in preparation. Over the last week, he had completely incorporated Blood Fire into his style. He had no doubt that Kisame would be no match for his new Kitsune Blade style. He just hoped Sasuke could hold off his brother until Naruto could start helping.

Naruto and Sasuke both took off, while Naruto was more careful with his speed. At 3 tail speeds, you had to be careful. Nanoseconds were you're usual time frame, and if you weren't cautious, you could end up as so much bloody stains on the ground.

Sasuke could literally feel the wind on his face. He was going so fast that the air seemed to be a physical barrier. Before he knew it, he was in front of Itachi. Sasuke watched with his amazing eyes as Itachi's eyes widened. Very slowly. Snail's pace slowly. Sasuke punched him through the chest. Itachi puffed into smoke. Again, as slow as a snail. _'This Sharingan is phenomenal.'_

While Sasuke was doing all this, Naruto had time to deliver 1000 slashes to Kisame, decapitate him, throw Sharktooth into the ocean, and finally burn the body before so much as one drop of blood hit the ground.

"Sometimes I hate this speed. Your enemy's dead before he has a chance to fight. But I guess that's the point." Naruto was slowly returning, seeing how easy Kisame was. "You okay, Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke stared at Naruto, his whole body trembling. "Now I'm mad." Sasuke spun around to see Itachi with his Mangekyou. "I hadn't planned to steal your eyes until you had Mangekyou too, but now I won't take chances."

Sasuke stared, fear settling into his stomach despite all the power that was already taking up the space. "Oh that's right. You don't know. Our clan's history is bloody and evil at its best. Our two patriarchs were branch family Hyuuga who made a deal with the Kyuubi for power. The result was the Sharingan. As you know, you have to kill your best friend to achieve Mangekyou, the highest level of Sharingan. But using it drains you sight. Eventually, you'll go blind. So Madara Uchiha, the elder brother, stole his brother's eyes, to make his own eternal. He killed his own brother just so he would still be able to use the Sharingan! It was Madara who summoned the Kyuubi to Konoha, it was Madara who used that distraction to implant a mind-control seal inside my mind, and it is Madara who is now seeking out Akatsuki so he can take control!"

Sasuke stared at his brother, seeing the madness there. But deep down in him he knew it was true. He knew because the darkness inside him was stoked at these very words. All of Naruto's words now made sense. Itachi rushed forward, reaching for Sasuke's eyes, but Naruto grabbed him in the air. "There is no way you're getting your hands on him!" Sasuke was touched by Naruto's care for him. Well, he would have if this exchange had been happening at speeds that allowed feelings to outrun exhilaration

Itachi stared at Naruto. "Feel the wrath of the Tsukuyomi!" The world inverted, and a black moon appeared in a red sky. Itachi stared at his 'captive' and looked shocked. "What are you doing? How are you doing this? I feel like I'm the victim!" Naruto chuckled. "That's because you are. If Kyuubi made this kekkai genkai, then don't you think I would have total control? You have just been trapped in your own jutsu." As he spoke, a giant claw grabbed hold of Itachi. The claw was attached to an arm, which was attached to the body of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. _**'I gave you your eyes. Now I take them back.' **_In the inescapable Genjutsu, Itachi screamed.

Sasuke stared. One moment Itachi was being held back from his lunge by Naruto, the next Itachi was lying on the ground, clutching his eyes. Sasuke saw that they were lavender, as pale as Hinata's. "Do it." Sasuke turned to see Naruto staring at him. Sasuke nodded, gathered all his hate and anger into one point, and let it all out by stabbing Itachi through the heart with a kunai. Instantly, Sasuke felt lighter. His ambition was complete. Well, half complete.

"Yo." Sasuke turned his now deactivated eyes to see Kakashi, Zabuza, Haku, Tazuna, and Sakura watching him. "I guess we can cross these guys out of the Bingo book. Nice work Sasuke." Sasuke grinned as the implications of what he had done hit him. He had killed Itachi. His revenge was complete. He quite literally jumped for joy. "Well, as fun as this all was, let's get out of here. This has to be cleaned up before Tazuna can finish." Everyone was snapped out of their staring at Sasuke and stared at Naruto. This was the nice, innocent Naruto again.

"Oh, yeah. What were you thinking! When I tell Hinata about this, you know she will explode! Much as I am now! How could you even think of putting yourself in danger? That's mine and Hinata's job!" Despite all the yelling, Sakura was smiling. At the end of her tirade, Sakura kissed Naruto. Everyone stared at them as if they had gone crazy. Naruto laughed. "That's right. A guy is only supposed to get in trouble because of his girlfriends!"

It was one week later, and the bridge was finally complete. During that time, everyone had come to accept that with Naruto, you just couldn't have a normal existence. Tazuna gave him a strong hug; silently thanking him for all that he had helped into being. "Goodbye!" The party left the assembled village making their goodbyes. Inari was even letting a few tears slide. "You know," Tazuna told the village. "In honor of all he has done and will do, I hereby name this the Great Naruto Bridge." Everyone nodded. It was the perfect name.

A few miles away from Konoha, Zabuza decided to break the silence that had held over the group. "Well, if you don't win over the council, they still have to let me and Haku in. We're bringing the heads of 2 S-class criminals!" Zabuza laughed at his own bloody humor. Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

An hour later, Naruto was giving his proposal in front of the whole council. Sakura had been forced to leave, but she knew Naruto would tell her what happened. In the meantime, she would find Hinata and give her the news of how Naruto had gone up against 2 S-class criminals without asking Sakura for permission.

"So, you see, Zabuza and Haku have completely reformed. They should be allowed to join our ranks." For once in history, Danzo agreed without hesitation. But then again, Zabuza was one more weapon to brainwash. Haku was already. The council murmured in their annoying way. Naruto flashed a look of sympathy at Sarutobi. He would never know how he put up with this madness everyday.

Finally, Sarutobi called for order. In his official robes, he looked intimidating. "All those in favor of letting Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice Haku living in Konoha and them joining our ninja ranks, say 'aye'." The room was a chorus of 'ayes'. "It's unanimous. Case closed. Now Naruto, inform us about the Akatsuki you and Sasuke killed." Sarutobi nodded at Sasuke, who had had a smile on his face the whole meeting. It disappeared as he remembered the seal Itachi had talked about.

For half an hour, Naruto explained what had happened to Itachi and what he had said. He was only interrupted when one member insisted that Sasuke show his Sharingan. The request was granted, and Sasuke amazed them all with their color. "So, you see, Madara was responsible for everything: the attack, the massacre, and what I am now. We must find him and kill him before Akatsuki fall to him as well." The entire council nodded. It didn't bother them that they were talking to a child. He was a child they saw as their greatest weapon.

If Naruto hadn't revealed everything to Sasuke before the meeting, he would have looked confused. But he just nodded. The secret didn't bother him unduly. There had always been something… beast-like about Naruto. Maybe it was his eating habits.

Finally, they were all allowed to leave. Sasuke and Naruto went to Ichiraku's and ate to their hearts content. Naruto made plans with Sasuke to train, and then started looking for Hinata. She reacted much like Sakura. A lot of yelling, and then a kiss. Naruto laughed, and then went to bed to recuperate from the long day. Tomorrow he had to help Zabuza with house-hunting.'

It had been a few weeks since the mission, and things were going well. Naruto's relationship was better than ever, Sasuke and he had been training to the point Sasuke could dodge a whole hail of shurikan with his eyes closed. Haku and Zabuza had gotten themselves a decent apartment and were shaping into the greatest ninja tag-team in Konoha history. They perfectly complemented each other's talents.

"Hey, Naruto-neechan!" Naruto, who was hanging out with Sakura and Hinata, turned to see Konohamaru approaching with his friends. Or, more accurately, Konohamaru lunging for Naruto's hood with his friends Moegi and Udon behind him. Naruto dodged them all Matrix-style.

"Ouch, you avoided me again. Just what I'd expect from my greatest rival." Konohamaru was rubbing his head. "Konohamaru-kun, what are you and your friends doing on this fine day?" Said friends looked up, and Konohamaru ignored the question. "Hey, are these your girlfriends you keep on sleep-talking about?" If Naruto hadn't had the millennia of experience afforded to him by Kyuubi, he would have blushed. "Yes, it just so happens they are. Now answer my question."

Sakura and Hinata, who didn't have the benefit of Kyuubi, were red as fire when Konohamaru answered. "That's easy. We're playing ninja. And guess what!" Konohamaru rushed forward and tagged Naruto. "You're it!" With that, Konohamaru and company left in a flurry of legs and laughter. Naruto, Sakura and Hinata could have caught them easy, but they slowed down so Konohamaru could have his fun.

Konohamaru turned a corner and bumped into something. That something was a boy dressed all in black with a bundle on his back and make-up on his face in a strange pattern. That boy turned around and grabbed Konohamaru by the scruff of the neck and yelled "What's the big idea, you little twerp?" Before this black-clad boy got an answer, two arms broke free of his bundle and put him in a full-Nelson.

'_What the hell? What's Crow doing? Wait a minute, he's a puppet! Who's controlling him?' _All this was interrupted by a voice that sounded like it held the echo of a growl. "Konohamaru, run along home." After this was spoken, Crow let go of Kankurou, for that was who he was. Kankurou looked up to see Naruto before him, in all his cloaked glory. Behind him, Hinata and Sakura were itching to go into their respective stances. "Who are you, that brat's keeper?"

Naruto gave a chuckle. That chuckle sent a shiver down Kankurou's spine unlike any he had ever felt. "No, I'm Konohamaru's protective adoptive brother." Before this little repartee could continue, a voice called out from behind Kankurou. "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now, Kankurou?" The puppet-master turned to see Temari walking up the lane in all her 4-bun, lavender clothed beauty.

"This twerp bumped me, but before I could punish him, this guy shows up and uses Crow to make me let him go." Temari looked intrigued. "Are you another puppet-master?" Naruto shook his hidden head. "I just happen to know how to use the jutsu." "What's going on here?" This was spoken by a voice that made the two sand ninja, as Naruto saw from their headbands, cringe. Naruto saw a pale-faced boy with pale-green eyes and a gourd strapped to his back approach. His blood-red hair matched the shade of the kanji on his forehead for "love." His voice seemed to come from the Abyss itself. It was as cold as ice.

"I was just saying hello to you fine Sand Shinobi. In for the Chuunin exams I take it?" Sakura and Hinata, who were used to their boyfriend's deductive skill, were not surprised by this assumption. The two however, looked confused and just a little scared. The newcomer didn't even flinch. "That is correct. Now, what is your name?" Sasuke left his hiding place in the trees to join the conversation. "It's polite to give your name first before asking for someone else's." The boy's eyes were as emotionless as ever. "I'm Gaara no Subaku. Now, who are you and your friends?" The boy spoke the word with just the teeny, tiniest bit of disgust. Naruto heard it loud and clear.

Sasuke smirked. Despite having killed his brother, he still had some of his old arrogance. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto continued the introductions. "I'm Naruto no Kitsune." Gaara turned his attention to Naruto. They appraised each other for several minutes. Every one else held their breath. "I'll kill you." Gaara turned to leave after this morbid statement, but was stopped by a shimmer in the air. He turned around to find the alley deserted except for Naruto. "What is this?"

Naruto spoke calmly, as if he were talking to a spooked animal. "I know of the burden you bear. I know because I bear it too." So saying, he removed his hood. Gaara's eyes widened and in a voice not his own yelled _**"Kyuubi!" **_Kyuubi took over the job of speaking. _**"Shukaku no Ichbi. What are you doing to your host? He looks like he hasn't slept once in his life." **_Gaara had regained control enough to ask "What is this?"

Naruto spoke this time. "When I was very small, the entire village hated me. I knew they wanted me dead. I never knew why. Then, on my fourth birthday, they almost succeeded. That was when I met Kyuubi for the first time. He gave me a choice. Merge together and live or die and let me always be remembered as simply the demon-child." Gaara was clutching his head at this point.

"I know you have gone through those harsh looks, those mutterings, that undeniable feeling in your gut that you don't have a reason for living. At that time, I was more than willing to just die, to hell with what they thought of me. And then I realized something." Naruto slowly walked forward and put his hand on Gaara's shoulder. He looked up with tears in his eyes.

"If I protected them, if I nurtured them, if I _loved_ them, then I would have a reason for living beyond any other. To care for others before myself would give me that feeling I hoped for, that feeling of being, of belonging. I know you crave for that feeling too. And I know that you have strived for it through killing." Naruto tapped his nose. "Your sand stinks of blood."

"Gaara, try to love instead of hate. Try to heal instead of maim. Do this, and you will find your reason for existing." Gaara nodded, only thinking of how this boy who now resembled a fox had changed his life. There was another shimmer, and Gaara found himself being picked up by Kankurou and Temari. They quickly let go. "No, wait." They paused, and then were shocked beyond comprehension when Gaara hugged them both.

Down the alley, Naruto turned to leave. He really should make a business out of changing people's lives.

**So, hey, what you think? I know it's a bit of an anticlimax, but I wanted to get the whole meeting Gaara thing out of the way. Enjoy and savor, and review quickly so I don't delete this story too. Ah, I'm just kidding. Or am I? Got you! Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yo, as Kakashi would say. Today, you shall read what shall come to be known as fanfic history! In this chapter, the greatest anime antagonist to ever exist shall die. And it will be done by a 12-year old! Yah! Boo! Read and give your honest opinion.**

**P.S. Sorry it took so long. My weekends have been pretty hectic lately.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

"_Animal Speech"_

'_**Kyuubi/Other Demons Thoughts'**_

* * *

"So, any of you want to back out?" Kakashi had assembled the team by the bridge where they usually met. The purpose was to ask them to participate in the Chuunin Exams. As far as they were concerned, it was in the bag. Sasuke was not the same stuck-up brat who graduated. Sakura had been training nonstop, and Naruto was Naruto.

"No? All right then. Meet in room 301 of the Academy tomorrow at 9:00. You'll take the first part of the exam there." Inwardly, Sakura groaned. Leave it to Kakashi to leave everything to the last minute. In a gust of air, Kakashi was gone. _'I have got to learn how to do that.' _Sasuke thought in slight envy.

With that, the three of them parted ways. Sakura went home. On her bed, she found a case wrapped with a red bow. Confused, she opened it. Attached to the bow was a note. "Happy Anniversary. May this remind you of who you are inside. You may also find it a great weapon." At the bottom of the note was a picture of a fox. Sakura smiled. She had forgotten. Curious, she opened the case…

* * *

Naruto woke up. _**'Today's the day. Nothing like doing tasks we could do when you were an infant.' **_Naruto smiled slightly. _'I was never an infant. No infant has gone through what I had to.' _Naruto cut off the connection and got dressed in his voluminous cloak. This time, it wasn't just his fur he was hiding. Over the past week, Naruto had covered his body in a complex summoning seal that didn't interfere with the restricting seal already in place. The seal allowed him to summon Blood Fire from any point on his body, even when it was already in this realm. Naruto planned this would help in case anything actually managed to sneak up on him.

As he passed the kitchen, Sarutobi called out "No using your mind. The test's supposed to be about information gathering!" Naruto rolled his eyes. One tenth of a second later, he was at the academy. Sasuke was there early, and Sakura was approaching as Naruto appeared. He gave them both a nod, lingering on Sakura's. As one, they entered the building.

On the "third" floor, they were met with some resistance. Two Chuunin were blocking the door to the antechamber. Already there was Gai's team: Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji Hyuuga. Naruto had nearly killed himself from hearing his taijutsu master drone on and on about his "most favorite student." Naruto was shocked, actually shocked, for the first time in years, at seeing Lee. He might as well have been a Mini-me of Gai.

"I told you! Let me in! My youthful energy cannot be used if I am not in the exam room!" The boy even used Gai's philosophy. Naruto silently sent up a prayer to all the gods and demons, known and unknown, that Lee wouldn't make Gai a grandson with one of _his_ students.

The green-spandex wearing youth charged at the door again. And once again he was stopped by the guarding ninja, Kotetsu and Izumo. "If you can't even get past us, you're not worthy to be a Chuunin." The weapon mistress on the team, Tenten, shook her head, muttering "Why do you have to be so loud Lee?" Neji just stood their, impassive.

Impatient to get the exam started so he could pass it, Naruto walked over. "That is true; someone who couldn't get past a simple door doesn't deserve to be a Chuunin. However, this is the wrong door." The other teams waiting by the door looked confused. Sasuke stepped in. "I mean, come on; this is only the second floor." Now the other teams were really stumped. This was the third floor, right? Sakura, whom specialized in Genjutsu, finally spoke up. "If you all fell for such a simple Genjutsu, then passing should be a snap." With barely any effort, all three of them dispelled the jutsu.

The two guards were hardly impressed. _'They have Hokage-sama's son on their team. I'd be insulted if they didn't figure it out.' _Leaving the other teams to marvel at their own stupidity, Team 7 took a detour to the third floor. Rock Lee followed them, though only Naruto noticed, as was often the case.

When the came into a chamber large enough to have a good fight in, Lee showed himself, with as much flair as Gai would. "Halt! I wish to bout with you! My name is Rock Lee, the Leaf's handsome devil!" Almost lazily, they turned to face the bowl-cut boy. Sasuke smirked. "Do you mean me or Naruto?" Lee jumped down to ground level. "You! The boy in the cloak! You should provide an actual challenge than the pampered Uchiha." Sakura scoffed under her breath "Who in their right mind challenges Naruto or insults Sasuke?"

It seemed that Lee had keen hearing, as he turned his attention to Sakura, and instantly hearts replaced his eyes. "Hello, my love! I shall give my life to free you from these insufficient guards!" A vein throbbed in Sakura's expansive forehead. _Love? Guards!' _She would have spent a few minutes being pissed off, but at that moment, Lee started shooting air kisses at her. Horrified, she tried to dodge all of them, even practically bending her spine to dodge the last.

Naruto intervened before things got out of hand. "Please stop; she's already taken. And as for your first question, I politely decline." Lee snapped out of it and starred at Naruto incredulously. "Very well then, I shall force you to fight!" With a war cry, Lee charged forward. _**'Give the twerp a taste of his own medicine please, Kit!' **_Naruto almost laughed, Kyuubi had said please perhaps twice in his 10,000 year lifespan. But Naruto complied, downing Lee with his own move: Leaf Whirlwind. When the boy stopped being dizzy, he sat up, a look of anger on his face. "How dare you use my own move to embarrass me in front of my love?"

Naruto shrugged. "Aren't you gonna ask her for her name instead of just calling her 'my love!'" Spots of color appeared on Lee's cheeks. Rushing forward, Lee suddenly disappeared. Allowing a small smile to grace his mouth/nose, Naruto avoided the kick aimed at the spot where his head used to be. In a stunning display of gracefulness and flexibility not meant for humans, Naruto twisted himself into a position to return Lee's move. As he kicked the Taijutsu apprentice into the air, he yelled, just for the heck of it, "Leaf Shadow Counter: Primary Lotus Reflection!" In a second, Naruto was behind Lee in the air, as if he were his shadow. From behind his cloak, Naruto's tails came out and started to wrap around Lee.

"Stop!" Just in the nick of time, Naruto avoided the pinwheels headed in his direction. Though to say they were pinwheels was like saying the shards form a bomb were "fragments." They were thrown at a speed that Naruto would find hard to dodge, short of loosening the seal. Sakura, who had been watching Naruto with a kind of possession, Sasuke, who had been taking mental notes, Lee, who fell flat on his back, and Naruto, who had landed in a way to make swans look clumsy, turned to find a giant red turtle with a Leaf headband around its neck at the other side of the hall.

Then, the turtle spoke. "Naruto! What do you think you're doing? You know you are only allowed to use that counter if the same conditions as the move itself are met: to protect the one you love!" Sasuke raised his eyebrows, but he wasn't too surprised. After seeing Naruto, a talking turtle wasn't too far out of the realm of imagination. Naruto bowed to the turtle. "I was, Nin-Kame. Lee here was moving in on Sakura-chan."

Lee looked to Naruto, then the turtle, then back again. "How do you know Gai-sensei's summoning?" "Because I taught him!" In a puff of smoke and firecrackers, Maito Gai appeared in one of his more ridiculous poses. Sakura's hair stood on end. _'This guy's eyebrows make that boy's look small!' _Lee instantly stood at attention. "Gai-sensei!" Naruto laughed. "Really Gai, what possessed you to use that pose? The last time you did, I was numb for a week."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, then Gai. So this was Naruto's Taijutsu master. Sasuke thought he was the most ludicrous man he'd met. "You're one to talk! You attempt the Primary Lotus just because my so- excuse me, student, was flirting with one of your girlfriends?" Despite knowing it would accomplish nothing, Naruto blushed. Something about Gai threw all of Kyuubi's expertise out the door. "Gai-sensei if I may ask, how do you know my new eternal rival?"

'_Oh, great. Now I get to see how Kakashi lives day by day.' _A smile broke out on Gai's face. "You're new eternal rival, and I'm so proud you found one, is none other than Naruto no Kitsune!" Lee turned to Naruto with a mixture of apprehension and awe. "You mean this is the one who trained harder than I did when he was just 4 years old? This is the one who mastered your style and whom you helped create his own?" Lee instantly threw himself to the ground in a bow. "I am so sorry, Naruto-sama. I had no idea who you were when I challenged you! I beg you forgive me for intruding in your love life and forcing you to degrade yourself to my own lesser style! Your style is stronger than the Iron Fist, more graceful than the Gentle Fist, and all together too great for even me to attempt!"

Sasuke was thoroughly confused by now. _'One minute he's Naruto's rival, the next he's his personal worshiper.' _Naruto sighed. "Please get up. I am no greater than you. I trained for years with a few advantages until I reached the level you're at. You reached it by overcoming countless hardships, and all in less than a year." Lee stood up, though a look of wonder still held dominant over his face.

"Sasuke, Sakura, let's get to the exam room. We're going to be late." Sakura broke her gaze from Gai's eyebrows and Sasuke snapped out of it. Without another word, they ascended the stairs and made their way into the waiting chamber. Over 100 ninja looked up at the sound of the door. Some of them looked like they slept with death on a daily basis. Sakura gulped. _'There are a lot of people.'_

"Hey Naruto!" Naruto turned to see Chouji and Shikamaru approaching him. The next thing he heard was "Sasuke-kun!" Naruto turned, seeing, without a whit of surprise, Ino practically draping herself over Sasuke. Despite extensive training with a Satanist like Naruto, Sasuke looked like he didn't have the slightest chance of getting Ino off of him. "Hello Naruto-kun. Thanks for the Anniversary present." Naruto hugged the newly appeared Hinata, while Kiba gave an extremely life-like wolf whistle. Akamaru gave a friendly _"What's up?"_ Shino, as always, was silent.

"Well, well; looks like we have some fresh competition." The whole Rookie 9 turned to face the speaker. He was a silver-haired boy, nearly a man, with glasses, and clad in blue pants and a shirt, with bandages covering the rest. Naruto saw through the Genjutsu on the headband. This was an agent of Otogakure. Naruto decided to let it play out instead of confronting him.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, giving the aged teen a ninja's once-over. Naruto had been training Sasuke, among several other things, how to activate his Sharingan without letting it fully "turn on." Judging from the concentration of chakra in the hands (the Sharingan can see chakra, though mainly to predict movements); Sasuke guessed the ninja either used chakra to increase strength or heal.

"I'm Kabuto. I've taken this test before. Seven times in fact. If you want some information, I'm your guy." So saying, Kabuto pulled out a deck of cards. "These cards contain info on ninja stats, the Shinobi villages, and ratios of ninjas to total village population. Anyone you want to know in particular?" Naruto already knew this stuff like the back of his hand, so he let Sasuke have his turn.

"Tell me about Gaara no Subaku, and how about yourself?" Sasuke would have asked about Rock Lee, but Naruto could tell him that. "Very well." Kabuto, with the air of someone who practiced it many times, drew two cards from the deck. They were blank until he poured chakra into them. "Gaara no Subaku, son of the Yondaime Kazekage. On a team with his older brother and sister. He's had several A-rank missions, as well as B-ranks and even some S-ranks. According to my data, he's come through it all without a scratch." Then he showed them the next card. "Kabuto Yakushi, yours truly. Over 100 D-rank missions with some C-ranks. My specialties are the healing arts and Genjutsu."

Naruto decided to rattle this four-eyed man's cage. "Tell me about Otogakure, the Village Hidden in the Sound." If Kabuto was surprised, he didn't show it. He pulled out another card. It revealed a 3-D diagram. "The Village Hidden in the Sound; it's a relatively new village. As far as I know, they've only sent one team. In my opinion, they won't last the first round." Naruto was impressed how good Kabuto was at keeping his disguise. The Sound team, within hearing distance, would now probably attack Kabuto.

The assumption came true. The Sound team, dressed mainly in lavender and bandages, came forward. The leader's head was so covered you could only see one eye. He was wearing a brace with holes on his right arm. The other male looked arrogant, and for reasons Naruto couldn't guess, he had a hole in each palm. The Kunoichi had raven-black hair and had a senbon holster. "Are you insulting our village? You'll learn to stop that!" the leader said. He swung his brace at Kabuto, who dodged. Naruto heard a high-pitched tone, too high for human ears to hear. It escaladed whenever the brace was swung.

After two or three swipes, Kabuto was chuckling, until his glasses cracked and he started coughing up blood. Sasuke, whose eyes were still on "half-way Sharingan", had seen the sound waves, while Sakura just used her smarts to figure it out. Everyone else was left out of the loop. Before Kabuto could recover, a voice Naruto knew yelled out, scaring the shit out of everyone within a 100-yard radius. "Listen up you maggots; from now on your lives are mine!" Everyone turned to see a scared man wearing his headband like a bandana standing in front of about 10 or 20 Chuunin. "I'm Ibiki Morino, and I'm the proctor for the first third of the Chuunin Exam. Each of you shall draw a number and sit in the corresponding seat in the next room. I'll explain in there."

Eventually, everyone was seated in the next room. Naruto was sitting next to Hinata, who curled her leg around Naruto's. Naruto just let Hinata have her fun, since he had been seeing more of Sakura lately. Ibiki walked up to the chalkboard and wrote out the rules as he spoke. "The first stage of the Chuunin Exam is a 10-question test. For every wrong answer, you lose a point. If you are caught cheating by one of my sentinels, you will lose 2 points. You must have at least 5 points to pass. If any members of your team fail, you fail along with them. I will not give the tenth question until the last 15 minutes of the hour I give you. As soon as you receive your test, you may begin."

Naruto took his test and looked it over. For him, Sakura, and Shikamaru, this could be done by brainpower alone. For everyone else, they would have to puzzle out Ibiki's message and cheat without being caught. Apparently Kiba was smarter than he looked, because Akamaru was already barking _"The answer to the first question is 13x5y/z" _Naruto grinned, and then closed his eyes. He smelled the ink around the room. He focused his chakra to his nose, singling out a specific area. He fine-tuned it until he could read the characters the hidden Chuunin was writing through scent alone. Naruto smiled, and copied the answers. This was a breeze.

* * *

45 minutes later, Ibiki stopped the test for the tenth question. Naruto had alternated between amusing himself with everyone's cheating methods and making things more fun for Hinata. Kyuubi's mating season lasted 4 months, so Naruto was maybe a bit more aggressive than he meant to be. Luckily, Sakura didn't mind, since Hinata had hogged Naruto in the past, and Sakura had taken special alone time payback as well.

Around half of the teams had been eliminated by too obvious cheating. During a free moment, Shukaku sent a private message to Kyuubi. _**'I've let him sleep, and have stopped messing with his head. Am I all clear?' **_Kyuubi sent a silent _**'Maybe.'**_ You could practically feel the anxiety rolling off Gaara.

"Okay, before I hand out the tenth question, there's something you should know. If you get it wrong, you automatically fail and your team cannot take the test or even apply of the Chuunin Exam ever again." Temari was too snappy to just mumble in shock. "What do you mean we can't take the test again? There are lots of people here who've taken the test before!" Ibiki smiled a smile that could make even Orochimaru's spine crawl. "The other times, I wasn't the proctor. Now, you can leave now or you can stay and risk being a Genin for the rest of your natural life."

Naruto had to give Ibiki his props; he played with your mind until it was you torturing yourself. Several teams left, not wanting to take the risk. Naruto was glad no one he knew raised their hand. After everyone who was going to leave left, Ibiki closed the door and smiled, this time in a kind way. "Congratulations, you all pass." Exclamations exploded all around the room. While Ibiki explained about how a ninja must gather information and think about his team first, Naruto went through a countdown in his head. _'3…2…1…' _At that moment, the window exploded. Four kunai shot out, pinning up a sign that said "Hello, I'm the proctor for the second part of the Exam."

Accompanying the sign was the infamous Anko Mitarashi. She wore a tan jacket; open, over fish-net covering. Her hair was in a short ponytail and was a dark purple color. She also wore one of the shortest skirts Naruto had ever seen. Before Kyuubi could even think, Naruto thought _'No way in Hell or Earth, you pervert fox.' _Kyuubi just growled. Snakes weren't his type anyway.

"Hello, I'm Anko Mitarashi, and you're all dead." Then she actually surveyed her audience. "Ibiki, what did you do wrong? There must be 70 Genin still left." Ibiki sighed. "Anko, for once, could you pull off an entrance that didn't draw every eye for miles?" Anko just shrugged, making the free guys in the room stare even more at her assets as they bounced. Naruto shook his head, glad he was already taken.

"Listen, you little twerps: when I'm done with you there will be less than half of you surviving. Meet me at Training ground 44 tomorrow at 9:00." With that, she left the room out the gaping hole in the wall. Ibiki dismissed them, but not before showing them the scars his bandana covered. Naruto was glad he had hundreds of memories of carnage, or he would have been sick.

* * *

The next day, the remaining teams were assembled outside a large forest near Konoha. Naruto was just waiting when Temari walked up to him. "Um, listen. Whatever you did to Gaara, I'd like to thank you. He's practically a saint now, always helping us and trying to be nice. I just wanted to show my thanks for bringing me the brother that I should have had, instead of…" Temari stopped herself from revealing Gaara as a Jinchuriki. Then she leaned forward and kissed Naruto. He would have dodged, but that would have been inexcusably rude. Temari touched her lips, having felt the fur, but then she nodded, as if she had finally realized exactly what Naruto was.

When she walked away, Sakura walked forward. "Not thinking of leaving me and Hinata for her, are you?" There was an unmistakable tone of bitterness in her voice. "Never. Besides, I turned her brother from a killing machine to a kind person. A thank-you kiss is hardly going to steal me away." Sakura was silent, and then she said "If you can date both me and Hinata and still be the perfect guy, one more girl couldn't hurt." Naruto went hot, and then felt fuzzy, because Temari's kiss had the same spark as Sakura's and Hinata's. "Thank you for permission, but she's from the Sand. I can hardly date across countries." Sakura smirked, and said under her breath "It you can cross the village in the blink of an eye, a country shouldn't take more than 2 heartbeats."

This discussion of Naruto going from a 2-girl man to a 3-girl would have continued, had not a kunai just then been thrown at Naruto. He dodged as if this happened every day, and it did. Several times. Still, it served the purpose of drawing Naruto's attention. He turned, and then jumped away as Anko appeared, pressing herself to Naruto's back. Naruto said, once he recovered, "Bad form, Anko. I know you're _the_ physical torture expert, but aren't the facts that I'm 12, the Hokage's adoptive son, and a boyfriend protection?"

Anko laughed. She didn't seem to mind the first-name terms. "I'm trained to do my job without caring about any of those barriers. But anyway, I was speaking, and you weren't paying attention." Naruto would have retorted that in fact he had been, and was simply able to talk to Sakura at the same time, but he kept his mouth shut. "As I was saying, this training ground is known as the Forest of Death." She stopped then, because she was being handed back her knife by a tongue. The tongue belonged to a Genin from the Grass country, or so they appeared.

Naruto instantly froze. It was just an outline, but Naruto saw through the jutsu to see the real person underneath. Orochimaru. The man who had killed over 100 Shinobi and experimented with their bodies. The man who had left the village. The legendary Snake Sannin. Anko took the kunai, apparently not seeing the "woman" for her old sensei. Naruto calmed himself, and resolved to report to Sarutobi as soon as possible. If he attacked him then and there, it would look like he was attacking a fellow Genin outside the Exam.

"Anyway, your job is to make your way to the temple at the center of the forest. You have a 5-day time limit, and you must reach the temple with both of these scrolls." She produced two scrolls, one dark blue and the other white, each with the kanji for either "Heaven" or "Earth". "You will be given either a Heaven or Earth scroll. You'll have to steal the other type of scroll from another team. If you open the scrolls at any point during the Exam, you will be instantly disqualified. Go to that stall over there to sign the waivers and receive your scroll as well as the number of the gate you will go through."

The waivers were pretty straightforward. Konohagakure was in no way responsible for any injuries or deaths that may occur during the Exam. When they turned them in, they received a Heaven scroll and the number 18. They went to the appropriate gate, and waited. Naruto kept his guard up, waiting for when Orochimaru struck. After a while, the Chuunin at the gate opened it and said "Good luck."

They stepped into another world. Everything seemed larger-than-life. The trees, the plants, the insects. That last part gave way for concern, as that implied the animals were gigantic as well. The team walked slowly, watching for disturbances. After about 10 minutes walking, Naruto detected a presence behind them in the trees. Reacting immediately, Naruto used his seal and flung Blood Fire at what he sensed. A Rain ninja popped out, barely avoiding the blade. Naruto used the seal again, and Blood Fire flamed into his hand.

"Nice trick, but I'm still gonna get your scroll!" Apparently the boy was confident he could do this alone, because Naruto didn't sense anyone else. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and drew a kunai while Sakura reached into her pouch…

_

* * *

(Flashback)_

_Sakura opened the case to find that a beautiful 20-petal Sakura blossom was inside. Next to it was another card. Sakura picked it up and read it. "I grew this specifically for you. You can control the petals with chakra, as well as replicate and harden them. Basically, it's an endless supply of shurikan by itself. Love, Naruto.' Sakura picked up the delicate flower. Experimentally, she poured some chakra into it. Instantly, the petals straightened, looking sharper than before. After a little trying, she separated the petals and controlled them in the air. Sakura smiled. "Thank you, Naruto."_

* * *

Sakura pulled out the Sakura Shurikan, as she had named it. She separated the petals and sent them all towards the Rain ninja, making them split in half for double the projectiles. Without a prayer of escape, the Rain ninja was run through with 40 "shurikan" Sasuke delivered the coup de grace by ramming his knee into the Genin's face as he fell. He felt the cartilage give way.

Naruto reeled Blood Fire back into the seal. "Well done. See if he has an Earth scroll." Sasuke walked forward while Sakura reassembled the blossom. "Do you like it?" he asked her, with the air of one hoping he got the right gift. "It's perfect, just like you." Sasuke interrupted this little flirt session. "He has a Heaven scroll; we don't need him." The team walked forward, more cautious now.

After an hour of avoiding bugs and poisonous plants, it happened. Orochimaru showed up, still under the guise of a Grass ninja. "Well, well, I had hoped to pick you off one by one, but you seem to avoid all my traps." Naruto heard, like an undercurrent, the tenor of Orochimaru's real voice, while the soprano of his disguise held true. Naruto summoned Blood Fire, putting Sasuke and Sakura on alert. "I know who you are, so why don't you just drop the disguise."

Orochimaru seemed surprised, and then he grinned. He pulled off the woman's face, revealing his own, and ran a hand over his headband, revealing the Sound headband. "I must say I'm impressed. I was planning on taking the Uchiha, but maybe Sarutobi-sensei's adoptive son would be a prize too." Sasuke gripped his kunai tighter; he had resolved to right his clan's bloody ways, but he was still classified as merely "the Uchiha" instead of his own person.

"Well, let's begin." Orochimaru vanished into the trees. The team followed, staying in a defensive position. Out of nowhere, a giant snake appeared. Naruto and Sasuke impaled it with their weapons, but it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto turned around, hoping his hunch was wrong. It was right; Orochimaru had Sakura by the neck with a kunai. "Move and she dies." Naruto gathered his speed, and snatched Sakura away before Orochimaru could react.

"What the…" Orochimaru looked shocked that anyone could move so fast. And that was pre-tail speed. With his guard down, Sasuke thrust his kunai into Orochimaru, but he dissolved into mud. The real Orochimaru appeared behind Sasuke, and bit him on the neck. Naruto's eyes widened and his muscles stiffened as he say Sasuke scream in pain and the curse seal that Naruto knew was Orochimaru's most powerful appeared on Sasuke's neck. Somewhere inside Naruto, something snapped. "He will come to me, seeking po—"He was interrupted by the chakra equivalent of the Big Bang.

* * *

In his office, Sarutobi was having a private smoke when it happened. A **MASSIVE** flare of chakra came from the Forest of Death. And then the shockwave hit. The chakra hit him almost as a physical blow, blowing him out of the chair and breaking every window in the office. Sarutobi was kept down under the pressure. He was sure the entire planet could feel this chakra. Finally, it went away, but only to group more heavily in a spot not too far from the village. "Naruto!" Sarutobi cried out.

* * *

For 50 yards around, every tree, big or small, had capsized from the brunt of Naruto's chakra. Of course, he wasn't really Naruto anymore. Unless a blindingly bright form that looked like Naruto made out of purple chakra counted as just plain Naruto. Orochimaru, who had been temporarily buried by the "explosion", got to his feet, his eyes wide at the feeling of all this chakra. It felt like a planetoid had hit Earth and decided to turn every square inch into chakra.

"W-What is this power?" Naruto laughed, and the sound echoed as far away as Konoha. "**THIS IS THE POWER OF NARUTO NO KITSUNE, AFTER HE HAS COMPLETELY RELEASED THE SEAL HOLDING BACK 9/10 OF HIS CHAKRA!" **Orochimaru's eyes widened. The boy would have been on par with him before, and now it was revealed that the boy had been at a tenth of his strength. Sakura, who had emerged with Sasuke in her arms, looked at Naruto with something akin to terror. _'What's happened to him?_

Naruto summoned Blood Fire, and then turned to Orochimaru. **"YOU PUT A CURSE SEAL ON SASUKE! FOR THAT, YOU SHALL PAY!"**

* * *

(Octillionth of a second by octillionth of a second) 

Naruto dashed to Orochimaru. He felt as if he didn't have a physical body anymore, that he was simply an embodiment of pure power. _**'Careful Kit, you need to stay alive.' **_Naruto took what Kyuubi said and took a moment to consider how to banish Orochimaru to oblivion without disappearing into the ethers afterward. Finally, he decided on how to do it _without_ scattering himself to the winds.

Instead of merely pushing all his power into Orochimaru and thereby destroying him, Naruto took a different approach. He came up before the snake, and then used the most powerful move he would do in his life. He flamed up Blood Fire and delivered 1000 strikes at a power level that would make a Kage's look like kid stuff. Then he doubled the power and brought down 2000 slashes. It continued in this fashion until Naruto had delivered 45,000 blows in all and had used enough power to destroy a planet, let alone one man. For all intents and purposes, Orochimaru was destroyed down to the subatomic level.

Naruto collapsed, having expended all his power in the assault. The last 100 slashes or so might actually had been slow enough to be seen. He heard Sakura cry out his name, but he had already retreated into the cold blackness that was the sanctuary of unconsciousness.

Sakura didn't know what had happened. One second Orochimaru was there, and the next he wasn't. She rushed over to Naruto. His cloak was gone, so she saw his full form. She was too worried to even process the fact that his only article of clothing was gone. She checked his pulse, and thanked every god in Heaven that there was one. Struggling, she picked him up, along with Sasuke, and fled for a place to rest.

**Au revoir, Orochimaru. You a****re gone**** completely. Just a reminder, this was the result of the poll, 6-to-1. My update won't be for a while, as I will be busy with 3 other fics. Check for those, and review, as I really love it when you do.**


	8. Chapter 8

**First off, you are more than welcome to hire a hacker, track me back to my house, and beat me within an inch of my life. This was my first fic; it's what brought me all the attention that has led to me always finding a new story alert or favorite story in my e-mail, and I apologize for taking over half a year to update.**

**However, I must say, I am highly disappointed with how I've done this fic so far. It's blindingly fast, vague, inconsistent, and just plain crazy in some parts. If I was the writer I am today back when I first started this fic, I wouldn't have reached Orochimaru until chapter 12 at the earliest.**

**Therefore, as both compensation for my long silence and to steer this fic back on the right track, this chapter will be twice the length of a normal chapter and will incorporate my improved writing style. If it seems a complete 180 from what you're used to, so be it. I cannot live with this scar on my conscience. Forgive me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

"**Kyuubi Speech"**

'_**Kyuubi/Demon Thoughts'**_

"_Animal Speech"_

* * *

Sakura sat in the hollow of a large tree, even by the standards of the Forest of Death. In fact, on any other day, Sakura would have marveled at the size of the hollow, which could have been mistaken for a small cave. However, at that moment, the only thing occupying Sakura's thoughts was keeping the most important person in her life alive.

Sakura wetted a cloth with the small amount of water she had and dabbed at the lovely red-orange fur of her beloved. She had covered Naruto with a blanket, partly out of modesty, partly out of a pathetic effort to offer comfort. Sakura was using all her strength of will to keep from crying.

She did not know what was wrong with the boy she already thought of as the most precious thing in the world. She thought back to the already worn memory in her head. The man Naruto called Orochimaru biting Sasuke, the god-like surge of chakra from Naruto that made Sakura want to curl up and die under its vastness, and then Naruto on the ground, Orochimaru no where in sight.

Sakura had next to nothing in the terms of medical knowledge. But even she could see that Naruto was suffering from fatal chakra exhaustion. He barely breathed, and his body was covered in burns visible through his thick fur. His beautiful nine tails lay limp on the ground around him.

For the thousandth time, Sakura crawled over to Sasuke. The boy was unconscious, but in a way that exuded sleep rather than a coma. Sakura carefully lifted her teammate's neck to stare at the mark burned into his neck. It looked remarkably similar to the tomoe of the Sharingan eye. Sakura wished she knew how this little blemish could cause Naruto to overreact like he had.

Sakura left Sasuke and returned her attention to Naruto. His condition was unchanged. Sakura's resolve faltered, and the tears finally came. Thick, choking sobs that made every creature that heard them feel misery came from the small, pink-haired girl. Like a lit candle, her sorrow was burned through by the wonderful outlet known as crying.

Sakura didn't have the knowledge or tools or even ability to help Naruto. All she had were some meager rations, a now empty water bottle, and the basic first aid training from the Academy that was nothing more than common sense.

Sakura wished that she still had the Heaven scroll; maybe it had contained some secret that could have kept Naruto alive. However, it had been burned when Naruto had gone supernova.

Sakura sat there, letting her despair take over her. Naruto would die, and she could do nothing about it. Naruto was _not_ just a crush. There was something about him that simply made him an integral part of your life immediately. In Sakura's eyes, watching the miniature Kyuubi no Kitsune die in front of her eyes would be akin to watching the entire village die by her hand.

Eventually, all of Sakura's sorrow bled out through her eyes. The result was her feeling like a hollow husk. It was frightening, because Sakura felt as if she would lose her whole identity if she wasn't careful.

Sakura's eyes, which had been sealed shut by her cries, now were going through the movements of one desperately trying to open their eyes. But her eyelids had cramped, leaving Sakura blind to the world. Panic filled her when her memories started to slide beyond her grasp.

She was sad for something; what was it? Why was she waiting here like this? The logical part of Sakura's brain reminded her that trauma could lead the brain to suppress what had caused it, but the pinkette had a feeling that what she was trying to remember was very important.

Sakura now tried to tear her eyelids apart, in an attempt to see the light of day. She needed to remember something, but she was losing touch with it! But despite her efforts, Sakura couldn't open her cramped eyes to let outside stimuli wash away her doubt. Frozen in place, Sakura Haruno slowly but surely started to go utterly and completely out of her mind.

* * *

Naruto had never felt so tired. Then again, he didn't know if he was feeling anything. He was in a half-realm between sleep and consciousness, between death and life, between light and dark. Any thought he had was slurred and incoherent as if he was think thinking in echoes was thinking echoes thinking in echoes in echoes echoes echoes.

There was endless sound, but there was no sound. There was everything and nothing; a void that seemed infinite, with the universe opposite it. The echoes came from the half of the area that seemed whole, coming back as twisted whispers from the void,

Suddenly there were another set of echoes, overlapping Naruto's own, canceling out any and all thoughts in his head. The random sounds and pitches made no sense to Naruto. Who was Naruto? The sounds increased in pitch, pounding a tattoo in Naruto's skull. Again, who was Naruto?

The void seemed more inviting than the whole from which the sound came. Naruto leaned toward the void. The feeling of being farther and farther away from somewhere took hold. As if everywhere and nowhere were being merged. Merged. Why did that seem to mean something?

'_**BECAUSE IT DOES!" **_Naruto sat up ramrod straight. Like marbles from a split sack, memories and facts of who he was rattled around his mind, bringing him firmly back into reality.

Naruto looked around himself. He was sitting on a small square of tile, beyond the tile, there was nothing but black. It took Naruto a moment to realize that this was his mindscape. He would have contemplated how he had gotten there when the voice of one seriously pissed off demon fox overrode Naruto's thoughts.

'_**I must have been out of my mind! I should have given us a heart attack the instant you had the notion to go all out! You had me for a while there, making me think you were actually worthy for me to change my ways for! Now I see you for what you are: a mindless fool with less common sense than a mite of dust!!!!'**_

Naruto tried to order his thoughts into some cohesive order. He was still recovering from his half-life state. When he had managed to construct a sentence, he thought back to Kyuubi. _'Okay, so I might have overreacted a little.' _The Kyuubi's reply was swift and terrifying, giving Naruto a taste of what the Kyuubi was when he was mad and uninhibited. It was like the mind of a wild animal, with the cold ruthlessness of one who enjoys the hunt and the death it brings.

'_**Overreacted a little? You condemned us to the void, over a little mark that you could have removed in a heartbeat! But no, the great Naruto no Kitsune won't do the logical thing. No, he goes and threatens every life within a million miles with his little fireworks display, removes the nasty snake-man from existence, without even thinking of the consequence!!!!!!'**_

Naruto shivered. He didn't even want to compute what Kyuubi was saying. For the first time in years, Naruto felt fear. He had always taken for granted Kyuubi, never realizing the full scope of just who or what he was. Naruto felt like he had just personally insulted the schoolmaster of the universe, and Naruto was the bad child who was about to get punished. It was a humbling, terrifying experience.

'_**That's right, go on and feel humiliated! It's the last thing you'll feel!!!!!!!' **_Naruto felt one fact click in his mind. _'Wait, what do you mean by that?'_ Again, the feeling of being under the schoolmaster's stare, and the idea that death would be welcome if it could provide a respite from the pure, unfiltered killing intent and outraged superiority emanating from Kyuubi's half of their mind.

'_**You summoned enough chakra to make a new planet! How did you think your chakra system would react to that? Your entire chakra network has literally gone up in flames! The only reason you're still alive is because I'm actually taking the time to make this little island and keeping it afloat!'**_

Naruto started to fully appreciate how much of his seemingly invincible façade came from the Kyuubi. The stories of how he had crushed mountains with a single swish of his tail suddenly didn't seem so exaggerated. _'Why don't you just keep this place going until someone heals us?' _The sensation of being a toothpick being pinched by the hand of Kami swept over Naruto. _**'Wait until someone heals us? Wait until someone heals us?'**_

Out of nowhere, a good half of the tile Naruto was sitting on disappeared. The disappearing tile was accompanied by enough unadulterated bloodlust that a weak Genin in Naruto's place would have died on the spot. _**'I'm maintaining this through a constant stream of chakra alone. And thanks to you and your little snake extermination, my stores are near nonexistent. I give you an hour tops before we topple into darkness.'**_

'_**As for someone healing us, HAH! Even the great Slug Sannin Tsunade would mark you as dead. Sure, Medic-nin can remake organs, but not the chakra network itself. The entire way the whole of chakra healing works is by sending the jutsu through the patient's chakra network to the afflicted area.'**_

Naruto was about to point out the loophole, when Kyuubi very quickly closed it. _**'Even chakra maladies and injuries from the Gentle Fist course through the network. It doesn't matter how mutated it is or if it's closed. As long as there is a network, the jutsu will take."**_

"_**But without a network, there's nothing that can be done. Any form of chakra healing would die off because there would be nowhere to go. And don't even think of a transplant. Not only do chakra networks disappear with death, but each system is unique to each person. Using someone else's would be worse than performing open heart surgery with a sledgehammer."**_

Naruto sought out a retort. There wasn't one. He tried to think up a solution to the problem, so obvious or so obscure that Kyuubi hadn't thought of it. He came up blank. Naruto hung his head in shame. He had been blindingly reckless, with a foolishness that would have most people falling on the ground with laughter.

For all his big words and obvious power, he had made a stupid mistake for which the price was the ultimate one.

Just as Naruto was about to sink into despair, an epiphany broke in his mind like a spark of light. _'If we're so doomed, why did you take the trouble to set up this island?'_ Naruto grinned. Hope. Possible both the greatest strength and weakness of the entire human race. Apparently, that trait existed in demons too.

'_**Don't tempt me!'**_Kyuubi couldn't hide from Naruto though. Clear as day, the demon kitsune's mind held the belief that against all odds, there was a way for them to still survive. Naruto grinned. _'You made the island because you hold in your heart the hope that you're wrong. No matter how miniscule the fraction of the near invisible percent of a chance there is, there's still a chance.'_

Kyuubi grumbled. _**'Okay, so I'm hoping there is a way we could live. You don't have to get all poetic on me.'**_ Naruto grinned, and stood up. _'Well, we might as well make our chance as big as it can get.' _So saying, Naruto started to perfectly balance on one toe claw. Knowing what the blond was thinking through their link, Kyuubi conserved his dwindling supply of chakra by maintaining only a square inch of tile. And so, maintaining his balance, Naruto hunkered down to wait.

* * *

Hinata raced through the trees. She was keeping a pace that most ANBU would have trouble maintaining. Hinata would not have been able to dream of such speed under normal circumstances. Hinata, while greatly improving as a kunoichi, was still no higher than high-Genin level.

However, one can do things one never dreamed possible when they were worrying that someone they love was in danger. Small, weak mothers can lift trees off their children, men in critical condition can force themselves to walk to see that their wife was alright… and a young girl could run so fast she left an after-image of herself when she thought the love of her existence was dead.

Hinata had no plausible proof that Naruto was in danger. But what was proof up against the omniscient radar that every lover possessed? As Hinata kept on going faster than a cheetah with genetic upgrades, the Hyuuga thought back on the last ten minutes of her existence, filled with more anxiety and raw emotion than in the last ten years.

_(Flashback)_

_Hinata stood with a smile on her face that was uncharacteristic for a Hyuuga. In point of fact, it was uncharacteristic for most sane humans. But then again, why shouldn't she be smiling like this? Hinata didn't take particular joy in the pain of others, but this once she would make an exception._

_Hinata was standing in the open in front of a team from Iwa. Under normal circumstances, this would have been considered suicide. But when that team was crying and begging Hinata to spare them while they were trapped by razor sharp blades, it was decidedly not normal._

_Hinata looked at her new gloves again, the third time in as many minutes. They were a deep purple, and felt like silk, except sturdier. They were shaped like a woman's formal gloves. At the end of each finger was a piece of metal. The base was a circle of steel that was decorated with ornamental markings. Sticking out from a depression in the center of the base were bits of chakra-sensitive metal shaped like cat's claws, sharp on all sides so that a cut could come from anywhere on the claw, not just the point.._

_Or at least they had been a minute ago. Now, the claws had extended with the flow of chakra Hinata put into them. Hinata had never used the gloves before, but she was a natural. The instant she had released chakra into the claws, she had skillfully arranged her fingers so that when the claws shot out,( in a straight line to be clear) they had trapped the team of Iwa shinobi against a tree in such a way that any attempt at escape was futile._

_To be more specific, depending on how they moved, any one of the Iwa that tried to escape would cut off at least one of six appendages. Both arms, both legs, the head and… well, if you're male you can probably guess what the sixth one is. Understandably, the Iwa team was freaked out._

_Kiba whistled under his breath, while Akamaru whimpered. Shino, as always, was as unresponsive as stone. Hinata yelled at the Iwa "Do you have a Heaven scroll?" One of the Iwa, the leader based off how the other two turned to him, cried out "No, we have an Earth scroll! But please find it in your heart to let us go alive, oh great and powerful Hyuuga-sama!"_

_The Iwa captain was literally crying. One might think this was pathetic, especially from a ninja from an Elemental Country famed for its emotionless shinobi. But, Hinata's left ring finger claw was so close to his manhood that as he involuntarily twitched from standing in the awkward position he'd assumed to avoid Hinata's claws, the metal caused shallow cuts in his sack. So, the young man was appropriately fearing for his life and legacy._

_Hinata scowled dramatically, than pretended to think it over. "Okay, go, but remember how close you came to dying today and know that I could do it again very easily." With that chilling statement, Hinata cut off the steady flow of chakra to the claws. The pieces of metal quickly retracted, until they were no more than inch long._

_The Iwa team took a second to get the blood flowing normally back to their limbs, and then ran off into the forest as if Kami himself were chasing them. Kiba waited until they were out of earshot then spoke up. "Hinata, don't _ever_ do that to me. The Council should label that move as an S-level Kenjutsu!"_

_Hinata, lacking a bunch of males cowering before her, had reverted to her normal self. As such, she blushed in embarrassment. "It wasn't that bad, was it?" Akamaru whimpered again, emphasizing what was coming out of his master's lips. "Are you kidding? If I had been in there position, I would have screamed bloody murder, than would have passed out!"_

_Shino spoke up, in a cold calculating manner that was somehow worse than Kiba's humorous fear. "Hinata, I honestly think that the Council would approve that ranking." That of course made Hinata almost faint at the thought that she held a weapon that would have males begging her to spare them. For a brief second, Hinata envisioned a world with her as the unquestioned dictator. But it passed._

_Kiba's voice was not as panicked as before, but there was still a thin vein of fear in his voice when he asked "Where on earth did you get those anyway?" Hinata smiled as she thought back to that day…_

_(Flashback within Flashback)_

_Hinata had just made it back to the Hyuuga compound after a hard day of training. She silently made it to her room, feeling odd as she always did when people stopped to acknowledge her with a quiet "Hinata-sama." Seriously, it wasn't like she was royalty. Her sister didn't get this kind of treatment._

_An inferiority issue aside, Hinata walked into her room and was surprised to see a small box laid out on her bed. It was a bright red, with a violet ribbon. On top of the box was also a small, open-up card. Curious, Hinata walked forward to inspect the package. Seeing the familiar handwriting, Hinata grabbed the card and read it._

"_To Hinata," it read on the front. A slight blush on her cheeks, Hinata opened the card to see what the message was inside. In a fluid yet scratchy scrawl, the result of trying to hold a pen in claws, Naruto had written to Hinata "Happy anniversary. May this gift remind you of both the lady you are and the warrior you need to be. Half my love, Naruto."_

_Hinata grinned and opened the box…_

_(End Flashback within Flashback)_

_Kiba whistled. "Where does Naruto get that stuff?" Hinata just grinned and shrugged. The team most likely would have gone on to find another team to confront had not enough chakra to power every light bulb in the universe for the next century blasted into them._

_Hinata was instantly on the ground, her knees collapsing under the physical pressure the chakra gave off. Hinata knew what chakra it was instantly; only one person wielded a chakra that made you want to laugh and cry at the same time from the sheer amount of conflicting good and evil inside it._

'_Naruto!' Hinata screamed in her head. As quickly as the surge appeared, it vanished. The instant that Hinata could think clearly, her head and heart filled with a bottomless fear and panic. Without warning, the lavender-eyed heiress raced off into the forest, heading for the epicenter of the chakra supernova she had felt, Shino and Kiba following belatedly after her, yelling questions at her that she didn't bother answering._

_(End Flashback)_

And that's where she was now. A good 100 yards behind Hinata, Kiba and Shino tried to keep their female teammate in sight. They were having a hard time of it. Kiba had reverted to his sense of smell to follow his teammate, since his eyes could barely perceive her. Shino followed Kiba, his logical mind for once coming up blank as to why Hinata would run off _toward_ the source of a veritable chakra supernova.

Hinata remained oblivious to her team, focusing entirely on channeling all her fear anxiety, and dread into manic energy.

* * *

Sarutobi was racing through the Forest of Death, still in his official robes and hat, with an ANBU team behind him. The instant that the old man had picked himself off the floor, he had summoned the best ANBU team he had. Two heavy attackers, one long-range fighter, and the absolute best medic-nin in Konoha besides Tsunade. All of them wore monkey masks to show their loyalty to Sarutobi (Sarutobi translated is literally "Flying Monkey").

Suppressing his anxiety for his adopted son, Sarutobi had explained "We are going to investigate the chakra surge from the Forest of Death. If it came from who I think it came from, we are to bring him to the Hokage Hospital immediately."

The medic among them was shocked by this. The Hokage Hospital was a private center hidden in the shadow of the Hokage Monument. Only the Hokages and their most trusted allies were treated there. It was, of course, state-of-the-art. It was rumored that Tsunade had first became interested in the healing arts when she had been treated there for the Ebola epidemic that had occurred forty years before. She was cured in less than a week, a full two months ahead of the villagers who didn't die outright who'd been treated at the regular hospital.

The person Sarutobi thought had created the surge must have been extremely important.

Without further ado, Sarutobi himself had taken off toward the Forest of Death, his team getting into a V-formation with Sarutobi at the head. They were going as fast as Sarutobi could go without breaking his brittle bones, which to the old man's rage was pathetically slow compared to his speed just ten years prior. Being a senior was hell.

* * *

Team Gai was moving with posthaste towards where the chakra supernova (let's just call it that) had originated. Normally, they would have avoided it completely, thinking it the work of one of their enemies, except it was familiar to a certain branch member of the Hyuuga.

Neji did not particularly care for the Main Branch, and he absolutely despised Hiashi, but he did take notice of what happened with his uncle's immediate family. He knew that his 'sister' Hinata was dating the adoptive son of the Sandaime, and he had detected traces of an unusual chakra on her after her dates. Naturally, Neji took note of the chakra's versatility, and decided that the mysterious boyfriend was unique.

So when Neji was just sitting around with Tenten and Lee after an hour of reconnaissance, and he had sensed, or rather been blown away, by that same chakra on a massive scale, the Hyuuga had naturally assumed that something had happened to the Hokage's son, and so had come to investigate. Not surprisingly, when Neji activated his Byakugan, he was blinded by all the traces.

Tenten followed because of natural curiosity, Neji being the unofficial leader of the team, and because of her own personal feelings for the boy. They were undeveloped, and Tenten didn't know what to make of them, but she knew she _felt_ something for Neji, and so trusted his explicitly. Lee simply followed through the desire to see who had given off, in his own words, "such a large fountain of youthfulness!" Any living thing within ten feet when he said that sweat dropped.

* * *

Ino was being dragged through the forest. She wasn't being literally dragged, but if felt that way. Why did her teammates have to run off like that? Ino was as afraid of the forest as any other person, and she didn't want to be left alone, so she grudgingly followed her two teammates who were running with fear on their faces.

She didn't see what the big deal was (yep, she's that dimwitted). So there had been some kind of chakra supernova. So what? Shouldn't they be running away from it instead of towards it? But no, her lazy partners decided now of all times to use their energy, and ran off towards the source.

Ino pouted, unseen by the lazy genius and 'chubby' boy in front of her. Why had they forced her into this? Spared from knowledge of Ino's inner workings, Shikamaru and Chouji raced with fear in their hearts. They knew Naruto's chakra when they felt it, and they knew that the man, while a show-off, would never use that much chakra unless something terrible had happened. And so, with a whiny blond behind them, the Nara and Akimichi heirs ran through the Forest of Death towards their friend.

(If you haven't spotted the trend by now, no offense, but you're an idiot. Let's see who's next!)

* * *

The Sand Siblings were riding on a large platform of sand currently traveling at high speeds. Gaara looked slightly worried, Kankurou looked downright confused, and Temari was experiencing a mix of anxiety and curiosity (I know that all you haters out there will notice I'm using the same words over again, but just be thankful that I'm updating at all! I could easily just forget about this and spend more of my time writing down new ideas that will probably never get updated! Okay, that came out wrong. Back to the story).

Before this unusual mode of transport had started, Gaara had been fighting a team from Ame. And the word fighting is being used in the loosest term of the word. He'd trapped them in a Sabaku Kyuu and kept on asking, in a polite tone of all things, for the team to hand over their scroll. While that was happening, Kankurou started debating rather having a bloodthirsty brother was better than having a pacifist brother.

This very well might have gone on forever had not there been a, for lack of a better term, chakra supernova, for it was both brief and intense. It had dispelled Gaara's sand completely, letting the team escape, while Gaara's brain went through the processes of shock and connecting the dots. He knew that chakra, and more importantly the Ichibi knew it.

Temari and Kankurou also recognized the chakra; Kankurou because one of his puppets had been controlled by that chakra and Temari because she had felt it coursing beneath her lips when she kissed a certain hanyou Jinchuuriki. Therefore, they weren't too surprised when Gaara had created the platform underneath them and headed toward where the supernova had come from. All of them were wondering _'What has happened?'_

* * *

(Start the dramatic music)

Maybe it was fate, maybe it was just a coincidence, but all five parties arrived at the exact spot where Naruto 'exploded' at the exact same time. Surprise was the general emotion. The Konoha teams were shocked to see the Hokage himself in the forest, Sarutobi and his ANBU were surprised that all these teams had shown up, and the Sand Siblings were startled that all these people had dared to come near the chakra supernova.

Sarutobi, through years of experience, had learned to completely mask his emotions and become totally professional. He decided that now was the time to employ that skill. "What are you all doing here?" Most everyone, aware that they were in the presence of the most powerful man in the village, stayed silent.

However, Hinata wasn't entirely herself, and so did something very uncharacteristic: yell out in panic. "Where is Naruto? What's happened to him?" The crying heiress was literally at Sarutobi's feet, begging. Sarutobi was shocked, to say the least, but maybe it was just because Hinata had managed to get past his ANBU to get to him. Kiba and Shino instantly came over, whispering "So sorry, Hokage-sama, we apologize for her behavior."

Sarutobi just shook his head. "No, don't worry about it. Well, I think it's pretty obvious why we're all here. The question is what do we do know?" Gaara, not being so intimidated by the presence of the Hokage, offered "We're all here to find Naruto, at least that's why I'm here. We should start by finding out where he and his team are."

Ino alone was shocked. _'That chakra came from Naruto? I know that he somehow cheated and beat Sasuke, but how could he have made that chakra?' _But again, the world at large was unaware of the fangirl's thoughts. For everyone else, this was just confirmation. Sure, Tenten was a little shocked, and Shino tried to wrap his mind around the concept, but it wasn't as bad as Ino's blind obsession to Sasuke.

Sarutobi instantly took charge of the situation. "Alright, if everyone is okay with being here, then we get to work. Everyone try to find out where Team 7 could have gone." No one objected, and all started using their own unique abilities to try and find Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, except for Ino who just stood there dumbly.

Five minutes later, after several sounds of sniffing, bugs flying, and people inspecting the ground, Kiba found Sakura's scent. Silently, the ANBU team berated themselves for being outdone by a Genin, but that was not of importance. The instant Kiba yelled out his discovery, everyone, including the still shell-shocked Ino, followed the Inuzuka. The sight was actually very odd: seventeen ninja, of various villages and ranks, running in formation. An onlooker would have been very intimidated.

After a minute of jumping through trees, the entire entourage arrived at the clearing containing the tree where Team 7 was. The Oto team in the trees instantly fled upon seeing the vast size of the group as well as the unmistakable Hokage's robes. The only ones who noticed were Sarutobi, the ANBU, and Kiba. Everyone else was preoccupied with the sight of an unconscious Uchiha, a whimpering Haruno, and what appeared to be a miniature Kyuubi no Kitsune with spiky blond hair covered by a blanket.

Hinata's fear knew no bounds the instant she saw Naruto. His secret was exposed! Prioritizing, Hinata went to Sakura, who seemed to be going through a psychotic breakdown. Hinata shook Sakura, yelling "Wake up! What happened?" When Sakura remained unchanged, Hinata gave a chakra-enhanced slap to the cheek.

That did the trick. Sakura's eyes flew open, and internally the pinkette thanked Kami that Hinata had slapped her. She had been less than an inch from the borderline of sanity. But then her memories came back to her, and Sakura got in a panic. "Naruto!" she yelled, turning her head to see the still near-dead blond.

This simple statement would have far-reaching repercussions. Like dominoes, you could see comprehension, astonishment, and then fear go across the faces of Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kankurou, and even Shino, though you could barely tell with the sunglasses and jacket. All the informed members just showed panic that the secret was out.

As Hinata and Sakura rushed to their boyfriend, Sarutobi instantly tried to do damage control. Using his Hokage voice, he turned to his younger audience and said, calmly but firmly "This is an S-class secret. You are not allowed to tell anyone on penalty of death. Those from Suna, I beg you to please keep this confidential. No one must know of this."

When belated nods came, Sarutobi signaled to his team. The professionals went to Sasuke and Naruto, dragged the hysterical Hinata and Sakura off the latter, and then placed the two on stretchers summoned by the medic-nin among them. In a matter of seconds, the ANBU were with Sarutobi again.

Seeing the decimated expressions on the two girls' faces, Sarutobi said "Hinata, Sakura, you can come with me. Kiba, Shino, I'll make sure you don't fail because Hinata is gone. All of you, continue with the exam. You all can come visit after the second part of the exam is done." With that, Sarutobi and his ANBU Shunshined back to Konoha, with Hinata and Sakura in tow, leaving four very confused teams in their wake.

* * *

(I actually considered ending the chapter there, but I'm too big a softie to do it)

Sarutobi, his team, Team 7, and the Hyuuga heiress arrived at the Hokage Hospital in a flurry of leafs. They were instantly ushered in by the finest medic-nin in the country, kept on the Hokage Hospital payroll even if there were no plausible signs of danger, just in case something happened. But that's another story.

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke and Naruto were being crated off toward the treatment wing, leaving a disgruntled Hinata and Sakura, an anxious Hokage, and a diligent ANBU team. The doctor's had the good grace to not even blink when they saw Naruto.

Thirty minutes later, the head doctor came out with a clipboard in hand and sad expression. Sarutobi instantly suspected bad news. The man cleared his throat, and then read off the list. "Sasuke Uchiha is unconscious, suffering from the placement of a Cursed Seal. The Cursed Sealing has been performed, and no negative effects are showing. He'll be fine in a few days."

Sarutobi felt an almighty "but" coming. He was not disappointed. "But Naruto Uzumaki is another story. His chakra system is completely destroyed. Other than a tiny independent pocket, there's nothing. He's dry. I hate to say it, but he will die, if he hasn't already."

Before anyone else could react, Sakura fell to the ground screaming "NO!" and tearing at her hair, while Hinata simply fainted with an expression of such pain you could feel it at ten paces. Quick as a flash, both were carted off by the ever-present doctors.

Sarutobi felt numb. Naruto dead? It was a cold, unforgiving concept that the old man refused to accept. Naruto couldn't die. He simply couldn't. At least half a dozen lives were hinged on the boy's existence.

Sarutobi dismissed the doctor and his team. He then sat there listlessly. He needed to think, and he couldn't afford any interruptions. For ten minutes, though they felt like days, the aging Hokage went over every possible operation or countermeasure that could be used to save Naruto. Just as he was about to give up hope, a memory flashed into focus, figuratively dusty from lack of use.

_(Flashback)_

_Sarutobi sat in his home, enjoying his pipe and his copy of Icha Icha Paradise. It was a bright, sunny day, with just enough clouds to grand a gentle coolness without diminishing the beauty of the blue sky. It was a perfect day by all standards._

_Just as Sarutobi was about to get to the part that made even him… uh, harden, none other than Kushina Uzumaki showed up at his doorstep. Quick as lightning, Sarutobi hid the godlike smut written by his student. He knew from experience how his successor's wife reacted to, as she put it, "disgusting porn that should be burned on sight!"_

_Kushina was now six months pregnant, and it showed. She smiled, her red hair waving in the breeze, and said in a clear, bell-like voice "It's okay Sarutobi, I'll pretend I didn't notice what you were reading." Sarutobi smiled and said "I have no idea what you're talking about."_

_Kushina laughed, and for a moment all of nature stopped to enjoy it. Sarutobi never got over how undeniably beautiful Kushina was, in every aspect. Why, if he'd been born thirty years later…_

_Kushina took a moment to pat her expanding belly. For a trainaholic Whirlpool refugee who was the last of her clan, Kushina could be incredibly tender to those she cared for, which included her unborn child. When the moment passed, Kushina waddled over to her husband's predecessor. _

"_Minato will be wondering where I've gone, so I can't stay too long. I swear, as the Hokage, you'd think he'd have more important things to worry about than how often I do my breathing exercises." Sarutobi had a chuckle at that; hell hath no fury like Minato Namikaze when he was worried._

"_I came to give you this," Kushina said, handing Sarutobi a scroll with the Uzumaki crest on it. Sarutobi looked up in surprise. Kushina was jealously secret about her clan. She'd literally break you hand if you asked too many questions she didn't like; Minato had spent a good week in the hospital for that. _

"_I know what you're thinking, but let me explain. After my clan died, I learned a whole new meaning for 'contingency plan.' Anything could happen to me or Minato, and I can't just naively assume that I'll live to teach my child about my clan. That scroll is a copy of my clan's history and our various jutsus."_

_Sarutobi opened his mouth to protest, but Kushina displayed her uncanny ability to know what you're thinking. "But what if you die first? Well, that scroll isn't the only one. There's one in the Namikaze complex and another hidden in the Hokage office. This way, in the event that Minato and I die while you live, you can teach my child when he's ready."_

_Without waiting to hear if Sarutobi would agree or not, Kushina got up and, with a little effort, Shunshined back to the Hokage Building. Sarutobi looked at the scroll, and then took it into his home and hid it in hi safe._

_(End Flashback)_

Sarutobi took a brief second to scold himself on being so stupid. He had completely forgotten about the scroll after the Kyuubi attack. He hadn't even remembered it during the eight years he'd trained Naruto. He was going senile, that had to be it.

But the moment passed, and Sarutobi saw the lifeline he'd just been given. The Uzumaki clan had been notorious for being jacks of all trades; not even Kushina had been able hide that. Maybe one of them had developed a healing jutsu that just might work. The aches and pains of old age leaving him, Sarutobi rushed towards his home.

He arrived in seconds, and made a beeline for the safe before the door had even fully opened. Removing the fake wall covering the block of metal, Sarutobi quickly but meticulously turned the dial on the safe. When the last tumbler fell into place, Sarutobi ripped open the door.

The safe was bare except for the key to the Konoha Bank given to him by the Daimyo, a few jewels he'd bought over his 68 years, and the scroll. Sarutobi took it out with a fervor that would have surprised him if he'd been fully sane. Calming himself slightly, Sarutobi opened the scroll with care.

The scroll was written like a timeline/biography, showing the accomplishments of individual members, and the jutsu they had brought into the clan, some bought from other countries, but most of them original.

Sarutobi skimmed the scroll as fast as he could, looking for anything that might indicate a life-saving operation. Just before both the scroll and Sarutobi's hope ended, he found it. An experimental medical jutsu developed by Kushina's father. As Sarutobi read the complex description, a smile graced his withered lips. This could work.

* * *

The Hokage Hospital was silent until Sarutobi stormed in. Then it resembled a broken anthill. "Alright, listen up!" the old man yelled for all to hear. "I want all of you to bring Naruto to the river, and prepare for a serious surgery. Also, summon four of the best Suiton users we have. Any that we have in the village! Let's go, go go!"

Sarutobi's orders where followed to the letter. In a matter of minutes, a contingent of twenty doctors, subdivided into four sections, with four assorted Jonin, Chuunin, and ANBU skilled in Suiton jutsu stood by the river, Sarutobi presiding over it all. When everyone was assembled, he spoke.

"Listen, we only have one chance so make it count! I've found an experimental jutsu that just might save Naruto. I need all of you to participate." With that, Sarutobi hastily handed out 24 sheets of paper he'd carefully if hurriedly copied the medical jutsu onto. As they read it, one of the doctors cried "Why, this is genius!" Sarutobi couldn't agree more.

The Sentient Whirlpool Healing; it had taken five years of Naruto's grandfather's life to develop. It was a masterpiece. It wasn't a new take on an old idea, it was an absolute breakthrough. Genius in its conception, complex in its execution, it could easily be categorized as a SS-level healing technique.

The jutsu was near impossible, but if it worked it could be a panacea. Description: A whirlpool would be created over the patient. Four teams of five medic-nin would channel a different kind of sub-jutsu into the whirlpool, making it sentient, and a living thing. The whirlpool would allow them to mix perfectly, until the whirlpool entered the patient via the mouth.

Once the water entered the patient, it would spread until it was present throughout the body. Then the whirlpool would completely scan the patient's body, assessing every single thing that was wrong, and then would fix the problem by turning itself into the appropriate material, be it blood, bone marrow, or tissue. The beauty was that it didn't use the chakra network as a medium, and therefore could possibly be used on Naruto.

When everyone one seemed to have memorized the jutsu, Sarutobi yelled out "Okay, get ready! We start the instant you're in position!" The twenty-four ninja complied, getting into the formation described in the scroll.

The four Suiton users went through hand signs with perfect synchronicity, ending at exactly the same time yelling "Whirlpool!" Almost instantly, water from the nearby river flowed through the air, until it formed a whirlpool over Naruto, a perfect rotating cone of water.

The first team of medic-nin went through their seals and yelled "Knowledge!" A stream of multicolored light flowed from them into the whirlpool: a complete knowledge of the human body, sustained and transported by chakra.

The second team did their jutsu, which was Diagnostics: the ability to analyze what was wrong. The third team did Transform, for the ability to change into what was needed, and the fourth team did Drive, the desire to actually help Naruto.

The whirlpool was now a mass of swirling light. Each team showed signs of fatigue, but they continued on. Eventually, the whirlpool turned into the described shade of green. With that, the medic-nin ceased their jutsu. Now came the part that could go wrong. The Suiton team altered the whirlpool so that it flowed in a stream into the open mouth of Naruto.

Sarutobi waited with bated breath. What if something went wrong? What if the whirlpool wasn't alive, what if it did nothing? But it was too late for doubts now. Sarutobi watched as Naruto's entire body glowed green as the last of the whirlpool flowed past his lips. Did it work?

* * *

Naruto was now afraid. Kyuubi's chakra would go out in ten seconds, and no sign of help was there. Naruto panicked slightly as he felt the tile beneath his toe flicker. Kyuubi was too tired, he could feel it through their link. Naruto jumped, the instant that the island of tile disappeared.

Right before Naruto's upward momentum ran out and he fell into the void, there was a flash of green light. Out of nowhere, Naruto's mindscape in full appeared. Naruto fell on his butt onto the wet tile, but the discomfort was almost glorious. In an instant, Naruto felt his power come back to him, and more importantly Kyuubi. Naruto laughed out loud when Kyuubi gave a sudden roar of triumph.

* * *

For a split second, Sarutobi thought it didn't work. But that thought was soon buried when Naruto sat up and yelled, at the top of his powerful lungs "WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sarutobi was too overjoyed to cover his ears.

* * *

**So, what did you think? I know that a few of the more heartless out there will be nitpicky about all the flaws they can find, but I don't care. I've updated! I swear to you all, my faithful readers that I will update sooner. Ja ne!**


	9. The End

**The poll results are in. At the start, the whole "remake" option looked like it would win, but then out of **_**nowhere**_**, this sudden rush of delete votes come in. Don't ask me how these things work, they just do. I feel sorry that my first fic has come to a close, but honestly, I can't bring myself to feel remorse. This fic was dying anyway. I just left its fate up to you.**

**P.S. I solemnly swear on all that I hold dear and holy that what follows is merely the result of your votes. Do not darkly mutter about how the 'evil author' ignored the poll results. This is entirely the choice picked among the general fanfiction community. **

* * *

It's funny how things work out in the world. There's an old saying: 'For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the message went undelivered. For want of an undelivered message, the war was lost. And all for the want of a nail.'

There is a great deal of truth in those words. It outlines what is generally thought of as the 'domino effect.' What that means is that a little thing can set off a big thing, which can set off a bigger thing, and so on. Basically, it's just a fancy way of saying 'Watch what you do. Your actions have consequences.'

Still, who could have possibly thought that Naruto's chakra explosion would have such far-reaching repercussions?

Chakra is a life source. It's as simple as that. Every living thing needs chakra to survive. So is it such a surprise that the planet itself has a chakra supply? It shouldn't be. And like all chakra networks, the planet's does not react well to great disturbances in the flow.

That was exactly what Naruto's outburst was. The veritable supernova of chakra was enough to disrupt the planet's natural chakra flow. What was even worse was that the Forest of Death was one of the planet's 'tenketsu.' Considering the massive amount of life present in the place, it should have been obvious.

Now, the planet didn't take well to the burst of alien energy. It was large enough to have saturated into the planet's own network, and its own chakra naturally tried to flush out the invader. Unfortunately, the situation was exactly like that presented by cancer. The planet has a very fragile chakra network, considering that it has to spread its energy across every living and non-living thing on its surface.

So, the automatic rush to remove the virus of the foreign chakra accidentally tore open the coil in which it was contained. This was cataclysmic, because the planet needed to recycle every drop of its energy in order to sustain life.

However, fate had other plans. The torn coil leaked chakra like a fire hydrant, noticeable to the people on the surface by an odd feeling in the air. The coil gushed out the chakra, leaving the planet weaker and weaker as its 'lifeblood' left it. Eventually, the planet couldn't take it anymore, and imploded.

By some sick twist of fate, this happened just in time for Naruto's yell of joy to end. The instant the exultation of life had faded into the air, the entire planet collapsed unto itself, crumbling into so much organic rubble, leaving nothing but a pitiful husk within minutes.

All life was wiped out within the first ten seconds, what with the collapse of the atmosphere and the heat from the planet's core breaking though the crust. Naruto never got to see his girlfriends again. Said girlfriends never knew if he was alright. Sarutobi never got to see the end of the Chuunin exams and weep with joy over the will of fire being strengthened by the new generation. Oto never got to see what would happen to the invasion with Orochimaru dead. Sasuke never got to see if he could resist the cursed seals influence. Temari never got to see if she could have a date with Naruto. Her brother's never got to know if their sister would finally get a boyfriend. Zabuza and Haku never got to see if they could forge a new life in Konoha. And the millions of people who lived ordinary lives never got to see if their dreams would ever come true.

No, they and all life with them simply died.

The End.

* * *

**Let us take a moment of silence to mourn the loss of the entire Narutoverse…**


End file.
